The Manila galleon opens trans-Pacific trade
- Date
- 1565
- Category
- Economy & trade
- Region
- Pacific Ocean (Philippines and New Spain)
- Era
- Early Modern
- Significance
In 1565 the Augustinian friar and navigator Andrés de Urdaneta discovered the tornaviaje, the eastward return route from the Philippines to Mexico, by sailing far north to catch the prevailing westerlies.
His ship reached the California coast and made Acapulco that October, completing the first reliable round trip across the Pacific. The breakthrough inaugurated the Manila galleon trade, which ran annually from the late 1560s until 1815. Galleons carried American silver west from Acapulco to Manila, where it was exchanged for Chinese silk and porcelain and other Asian luxuries shipped back to the Americas and on to Europe. By linking the silver of Potosí to the markets of Ming China, the galleon route closed the last great gap in world commerce and created the first sustained, truly global trade network, with profound effects on Asian, American and European economies alike.
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Empires active in 1565
- Songhai Empire1464 CE – 1591 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
Related economy & trade events
- Founding of the English and Dutch East India Companies1600–1602
- Founding of the Bank of England27 July 1694
- Discovery of the silver of Potosí (Cerro Rico)1545
- Joint-stock companies and the world's first stock exchange1600–1611 (VOC chartered 20 March 1602; exchange opened 1611)
- Founding of the Bank of Amsterdam (Wisselbank)31 January 1609
- Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations9 March 1776
Further reading
The wider story
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Best-selling world history told through the trade routes that moved goods, faiths and ideas.
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