Portuguese Merchants in the Manila Galleon System 1565–1600

Description

Villamar examines the role of Portuguese merchants in the formation of the Manila Galleon as a system of trade founded at the end of the sixteenth century. The rise of Manila as a crucial transshipment port was not a spontaneous incident. Instead, it came about through a complex combination of circumstances and interconnections that nurtured the establishment of the Manila Galleon system, a trading mechanism that lasted two and half centuries from 1565 until 1815. Villamar analyses the establishment of the regulatory framework of the trade across the Pacific Ocean as a whole setting that provided legality to the transactions, predictability to the transportation and security to the stakeholders. He looks both at the Spanish crown strategy in Asia, and the emergence of a network of Portuguese merchants located in Manila and active in the long-distance trade. This informal community of merchants participated from the inception of the trading system across the Pacific, with connections between Europe, ports in Asia under the control of Portugal, the Spanish colonies in America, and the city of Manila. From its inception, the newly-founded capital of the Philippines became a hub of connections, attracting part of the trade that already existed in Asia. Surveying the Portuguese commercial networks from the ‘Estado da Índia’ across the ‘Spanish lake,’ this book sheds light on the early modern globalization from a truly comprehensive Iberian perspective. This is a valuable resource for scholars of Pacific and Iberian trade history and the maritime history of Asia. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of contents Maps Tables Abbreviations Note on currencies and conversions Preface Introduction Core concepts Sources Terminology Notes Part I Origins of the Manila Galleon system 1 Rivalry and complexity of the Iberian monarchies A round and connected world Different modalities of expansion Portuguese administrative consolidation and social differentiation in Asia Trading in uncertain waters Notes 2 Southeast Asia in the early modern period With one foot in Southeast Asia A string of port cities The footprint of China and Japan Notes 3 Birth of the Manila Galleon system The Manila Galleon as a system Why Manila? Birth of the Manila Galleon system Notes Part II The art of trade 4 The Portuguese legacy in Manila Ars mercatoria Focal point: Macao Macao and Manila under one king The slave trade Notes 5 Wealth and power Risk management: the case of the Misericordia Interactions between Macao and the Philippines Notes 6 An evolving merchant network Building a trading network The cases of Bartolomeu Vaz Landeiro and Diogo Fernándes Vitória The Rodriguez de Figueroa connection Notes 7 The art of commerce and representation Manila, an emerging transshipment port Bargaining processes within the system Institutions and legitimacy of Manila The Synod of Manila (1581) Citizens’ petitions (Junta General, 1586) The commercial spirit of Manila (1591) Notes Part III Trans-Pacific connections 8 Diego Hernández Victoria, the Merchant of Manila Manila Intramuros The will of Hernández Victoria Notes 9 Mexican connections Between dungeons and markets Partners in the Mexican church Dangerous liaisons in the Americas Antonio Díaz de Cáceres Notes Epilogue Appendix: Visualisation of the Portuguese merchant network Bibliography Published primary sources Collections and catalogs Works cited Index