"El mediterráneo norpacífico de acapulco y manila"
the trade network of the manila galleon, and the 1603 sangley-rebellion
According to the colonial historian C.R.Boxer the emergence of a global trade network was preceded by two momentous instances: the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 by Vasco da Gama, and Fernando de Magalhães’ circumvention of the earth by way of the Street of Magellan in 1521. Although Boxer did not pinpoint the birth of global trade to any exact year, he inclines towards the founding of Manila in 1571 as being its starting point. In the centuries to come, this city would form a central hub in a worldwide trading network connecting China, America and Europe.
In the first decades of the era of global trade networks the world’s oceans came to be dominated by two Mediterranean powers; the Portuguese and the Spanish Empires. In accordance with the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas the world was to be divided by papal decree into two spheres of influence. The western hemisphere, starting 370 leagues east of the Azores Islands, was assigned to the Spanish Crown, and the eastern to the Portuguese. The Philippines archipelago however, was considered to be situated as far east as to be falling under the Spanish sphere of influence, and hence the Crown laid claim on the islands.
Spanish colonization of the Philippines archipel started in 1565 with Manuel de Legazpi’s expedition to Luzón and was followed shortly by the foundation of Manila. By the end of the 16th century the city would become the central entrepôt in the so-called Galleon-trade between Manila and Acapulco in Mexico. From Mexico large amounts of silver were shipped across the Pacific Ocean, mainly coming from the newly discovered and extraordinarily profitable silver mine at Potosí in present-day Bolivia. This silver was traded at Manila for Chinese goods, mainly silks, which were brought back to the Americas.
It is this trade network that is the central topic of my research paper. In the paper the network is put in a global perspective, where attention is paid to the mechanics of supply and demand. The supply side had already been mentioned, being the Spanish colonies in the America,s where the silver output boomed with Potosí and the discovery of the mercury-amalgam. On the demand side, being the Ming Dynasty, there was an insatiable want for silver due to economic reforms such as the single whip tax, requiring all taxes to be paid with silver. Towards the end of the 16th century the exchange rates between gold and silver lie around 1:5,5 to 1:8 in China, whereas the exchange rate in Europe stood between 1:12,5 and 1:14. In exchange for this silver, agrarian laws were instated to encourage the silk production, for which there was a great worldwide demand.
In the first decades of the era of global trade networks the world’s oceans came to be dominated by two Mediterranean powers; the Portuguese and the Spanish Empires. In accordance with the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas the world was to be divided by papal decree into two spheres of influence. The western hemisphere, starting 370 leagues east of the Azores Islands, was assigned to the Spanish Crown, and the eastern to the Portuguese. The Philippines archipelago however, was considered to be situated as far east as to be falling under the Spanish sphere of influence, and hence the Crown laid claim on the islands.
Spanish colonization of the Philippines archipel started in 1565 with Manuel de Legazpi’s expedition to Luzón and was followed shortly by the foundation of Manila. By the end of the 16th century the city would become the central entrepôt in the so-called Galleon-trade between Manila and Acapulco in Mexico. From Mexico large amounts of silver were shipped across the Pacific Ocean, mainly coming from the newly discovered and extraordinarily profitable silver mine at Potosí in present-day Bolivia. This silver was traded at Manila for Chinese goods, mainly silks, which were brought back to the Americas.
It is this trade network that is the central topic of my research paper. In the paper the network is put in a global perspective, where attention is paid to the mechanics of supply and demand. The supply side had already been mentioned, being the Spanish colonies in the America,s where the silver output boomed with Potosí and the discovery of the mercury-amalgam. On the demand side, being the Ming Dynasty, there was an insatiable want for silver due to economic reforms such as the single whip tax, requiring all taxes to be paid with silver. Towards the end of the 16th century the exchange rates between gold and silver lie around 1:5,5 to 1:8 in China, whereas the exchange rate in Europe stood between 1:12,5 and 1:14. In exchange for this silver, agrarian laws were instated to encourage the silk production, for which there was a great worldwide demand.
On the basis of the central position of Manila within this trade network, one might think that the archipelago would have been a colony of great value to the Spanish Empire. It is therefore strange to find that there is relatively little attention paid to the Philippines in recent handbooks on the Spanish colonial empire. The fact of the matter is, that Manila never developed itself according to its full potential, which was largely due to restrictive policies from Madrid towards the volume of the Galleon trade.
In continental Spain the manufacturers of cloth looked towards the silk trade in Manila with discontent. They saw their position as suppliers of the American market threatened by Chinese manufacturers that delivered produce that was both cheaper and higher in quality. The Spanish producers would have liked to see the new colony in the Philippines abolished, but this was of course no option. In order to appease the demands on both sides of their immense world empire, the Spanish Crown decided to limit the allowed cargo that was to be shipped annually to 300 tonnes, and to cap the number of ships sailing at two per year.
These restrictive policies from the Mediterranean never were able to keep the trade in check the way it was meant to do. Rather, the silk trade continued on a grand scale, but below the radar. There were for the Manileños no real alternatives available, and besides that, the trade was so profitable that it continued in a mostly clandestine way.
A point that the paper aims to put to the fore, is that much of what is traditionally considered to be local history, has rather to be understood in a global context. D.O. Flynn has attracted attention to the connection between Spain’s continental power base and the Chinese silver market. He stated that it was China that provided the financial foundation for the Empire, with which it was able to keep the upcoming capitalist powers of Northwestern Europe at bay for a time. When the restrictive policies set in, however, they denied themselves this essential money-flow, which ultimately resulted in Spain no longer being able to keep up with the British and the Dutch.
Another effect that this paper seeks to put in connection with the Spanish regulations towards the Galleon trade, has to do with the so-called Sangley-rebellion in Manila in 1603. Traditionally, this uprising of the Chinese residents in Manila has been explained in terms of mutual incomprehension and distrust. The argument that the paper follows, holds that there was also a connection with continental Spain’s politics. Namely, since Spain had decided to drastically cut down Manila’s commercial endeavours and to cease the further development of the colony, this would have to have had grave implications for the way things were going in Manila. First of all, it created a climate in which corruption, illegality, smuggle and extortion were warp and weft. Secondly, the Spanish community stagnated, and the city became more and more dependent upon the influx of illegal Chinese immigrants.
The Sangley-rebellion has been written down in various sources, both Chinese and Spanish. The most extensive account is provided by Antonio de Morga, who was a town resident at the time of the uprising. His Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas is therefore the main primary source used in the paper. The event is considered as a bloody page in the colonial history of the Philippines, since some 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants lost their lives after an insurrection was violently beaten down. It is not the goal of the paper to argue that has been a singular causality between Spain’s decisions about the fait of Manila and the massacre of 1603, but only to point out that things are connected in a global sense.
S.P.
In continental Spain the manufacturers of cloth looked towards the silk trade in Manila with discontent. They saw their position as suppliers of the American market threatened by Chinese manufacturers that delivered produce that was both cheaper and higher in quality. The Spanish producers would have liked to see the new colony in the Philippines abolished, but this was of course no option. In order to appease the demands on both sides of their immense world empire, the Spanish Crown decided to limit the allowed cargo that was to be shipped annually to 300 tonnes, and to cap the number of ships sailing at two per year.
These restrictive policies from the Mediterranean never were able to keep the trade in check the way it was meant to do. Rather, the silk trade continued on a grand scale, but below the radar. There were for the Manileños no real alternatives available, and besides that, the trade was so profitable that it continued in a mostly clandestine way.
A point that the paper aims to put to the fore, is that much of what is traditionally considered to be local history, has rather to be understood in a global context. D.O. Flynn has attracted attention to the connection between Spain’s continental power base and the Chinese silver market. He stated that it was China that provided the financial foundation for the Empire, with which it was able to keep the upcoming capitalist powers of Northwestern Europe at bay for a time. When the restrictive policies set in, however, they denied themselves this essential money-flow, which ultimately resulted in Spain no longer being able to keep up with the British and the Dutch.
Another effect that this paper seeks to put in connection with the Spanish regulations towards the Galleon trade, has to do with the so-called Sangley-rebellion in Manila in 1603. Traditionally, this uprising of the Chinese residents in Manila has been explained in terms of mutual incomprehension and distrust. The argument that the paper follows, holds that there was also a connection with continental Spain’s politics. Namely, since Spain had decided to drastically cut down Manila’s commercial endeavours and to cease the further development of the colony, this would have to have had grave implications for the way things were going in Manila. First of all, it created a climate in which corruption, illegality, smuggle and extortion were warp and weft. Secondly, the Spanish community stagnated, and the city became more and more dependent upon the influx of illegal Chinese immigrants.
The Sangley-rebellion has been written down in various sources, both Chinese and Spanish. The most extensive account is provided by Antonio de Morga, who was a town resident at the time of the uprising. His Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas is therefore the main primary source used in the paper. The event is considered as a bloody page in the colonial history of the Philippines, since some 15,000 to 20,000 Chinese immigrants lost their lives after an insurrection was violently beaten down. It is not the goal of the paper to argue that has been a singular causality between Spain’s decisions about the fait of Manila and the massacre of 1603, but only to point out that things are connected in a global sense.
S.P.
Further reading:
Atwell, W.S. “Ming China and the emerging world economy, c. 1470-1650” in The Cambridge History of China Volume 8: the Ming dynasty, part 2: 1368-1644 ed. D.C. Twitchett, F.W. Mote, (Cambridge: University press, 1998) 376-416.
Boxer, C.R. “Plata es sangre: Sidelights on the drain of Spanish-American silver in the Far East, 1550-1700” in European entry into the Pacific ed. D.O. Flynn, A. Giráldez, J. Sobredo (Aldershot: Variorum, 2001) 165-186.
Cummins, J.S. “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas” (Cambridge: University press, 1971).
Flynn, D.O. & A. Giráldez, “Born with a “silver spoon”: the origin of world trade in 1571” in Metals and monies in an emerging global economy ed. D.O. Flynn, A. Giráldez (Aldershot: Variorum, 1997).
Flynn, D.O. & A. Giráldez, “Spanish profitability in the Pacific: the Philipinnes in the sixteenth and seventeenth century” in Pacific centuries: Pacific and Pacific Rim economic history since the 16th century ed. D.O. Flynn, L. Frost, A.J.H. Latham (London: Routledge, 1999) 23-37.
Maltby, W.S. “The rise and fall of the Spanish empire” (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009).
Pearson, M.N. “Spain and Spanish trade in Southeast Asia” in European entry into the Pacific ed. D.O. Flynn, A. Giráldez, J. Sobredo (Aldershot: Variorum, 2001) 117-138.
Atwell, W.S. “Ming China and the emerging world economy, c. 1470-1650” in The Cambridge History of China Volume 8: the Ming dynasty, part 2: 1368-1644 ed. D.C. Twitchett, F.W. Mote, (Cambridge: University press, 1998) 376-416.
Boxer, C.R. “Plata es sangre: Sidelights on the drain of Spanish-American silver in the Far East, 1550-1700” in European entry into the Pacific ed. D.O. Flynn, A. Giráldez, J. Sobredo (Aldershot: Variorum, 2001) 165-186.
Cummins, J.S. “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas” (Cambridge: University press, 1971).
Flynn, D.O. & A. Giráldez, “Born with a “silver spoon”: the origin of world trade in 1571” in Metals and monies in an emerging global economy ed. D.O. Flynn, A. Giráldez (Aldershot: Variorum, 1997).
Flynn, D.O. & A. Giráldez, “Spanish profitability in the Pacific: the Philipinnes in the sixteenth and seventeenth century” in Pacific centuries: Pacific and Pacific Rim economic history since the 16th century ed. D.O. Flynn, L. Frost, A.J.H. Latham (London: Routledge, 1999) 23-37.
Maltby, W.S. “The rise and fall of the Spanish empire” (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009).
Pearson, M.N. “Spain and Spanish trade in Southeast Asia” in European entry into the Pacific ed. D.O. Flynn, A. Giráldez, J. Sobredo (Aldershot: Variorum, 2001) 117-138.