Manila Galleon Trade

The Manila galleon route connected Manila with Acapulco and made New Spain the central American link in a trans-Pacific trading system. American silver travelled west, while silk, porcelain, spices and other Asian goods moved east.

The voyages were long and dangerous, and ships depended on coerced and poorly paid labour as well as skilled sailors and merchants. The route also carried migrants, enslaved people, religious personnel and information between Asia and the Americas.

This context supports maritime fiction about colonial Mexico, the Philippines and the global commercial networks of the Spanish Empire.