Manila Galleon Route

The annual Spanish convoy between Acapulco and Manila that sustained the first permanent Pacific trade for 250 years.

Overview

After 1565, when Andres de Urdaneta worked out the eastbound return by riding north to the westerlies, one or two galleons a year crossed between Mexico and the Philippines, each leg often taking half a year. Mexican and Potosi silver bought Chinese silk, porcelain and spices brought to Manila by junks from Fujian. The trade effectively made silver the global currency, linking South American mines to Chinese demand. Pirates from Drake to Anson hunted the ships, and wrecks still yield archaeology. Mexico's independence wars ended the run by 1815, the first sustained chapter of Pacific globalization.