1565–1815 · Manila and Acapulco

Stories of the Manila Galleon

Key topics of the Manila Galleon told from primary sources and studies: the tornaviaje, Legazpi, silver and silk, the sangleys, privateers, shipwrecks and the contradictions between sources.

For 250 years the Manila Galleon linked Asia and the Americas across the Pacific. These pages cover its main episodes and themes, drawing on a corpus of chronicles, letters, archival documents and academic studies. Each page shows what every source says and where they disagree.

For more specific questions, the interactive atlas answers by citing its sources and pointing out the contradictions between chroniclers.

• The 1565 tornaviaje: the return route that made the Manila Galleon possibleHow Andrés de Urdaneta and Felipe de Salcedo found the return route from the Philippines to New Spain in 1565, what the sources say, and where their dates disagree.
• Before the galleon: the failed attempts to sail back across the PacificThe Trinidad, Saavedra, Villalobos and Ortiz de Retes: decades of expeditions that could not return from Asia to the Americas, according to the sources, and where they contradict each other.
• Legazpi and the founding of ManilaFrom the departure from New Spain in 1564 to the founding of Manila in 1571: Miguel López de Legazpi's expedition through chronicles, letters and studies, with their discrepancies.
• Limahong's attack on Manila (1574)The Chinese corsair Limahong (Lin Feng) attacked Manila in 1574. What the chronicles and studies say, and where they disagree: the size of his fleet and whether the city fell or held out.
• The sangleys and the Parian of ManilaWho the sangleys were, how the Parian of Manila worked and why Chinese merchants drove the Manila Galleon trade, according to primary sources and studies.
• Silver for silk: the Manila Galleon tradeAmerican silver travelled to Manila and came back as Asian silk, porcelain and spices. What the galleons carried, who controlled the trade and what the sources say.
• The Acapulco fairEvery year the galleon's arrival turned Acapulco into Asia's great market in the Americas. How the fair worked, who bought there and how it declined, according to the sources.
• Chinese porcelain in New SpainThousands of pieces of Chinese porcelain crossed the Pacific on the galleon. Cargoes, archaeological finds in Mexico and California, and the figures on which the sources disagree.
• The wreck of the San Felipe and the martyrs of NagasakiIn 1596 the galleon San Felipe, bound for Acapulco, ended up in Japan. Its cargo was seized and months later 26 Christians were crucified in Nagasaki. What the sources say.
• Privateers against the Manila GalleonFrom Drake in 1579 to the capture of the Santa Ana by Cavendish (1587) and of the Covadonga by Anson (1743): English attacks on the galleon according to the sources, and their discrepancies.
• Tordesillas, the Moluccas and the Treaty of ZaragozaWhy Castile and Portugal fought over the Spice Islands, how the Tordesillas line was drawn and what Charles V gave up at Zaragoza in 1529. Sources and contradictions.
• Manila Galleon shipwrecksTyphoons, reefs and months at sea: the wrecks of the Manila Galleon, from the San Agustín (1595) and the San Diego (1600) to the galleons lost in Japan, according to the sources.
• Asian slaves in New SpainBesides silk and porcelain, the galleon carried enslaved people from Asia to New Spain, the so-called “chinos”. What the sources say and where they disagree.
• Contradictions between sourcesDates, figures and names on which the sources about the Manila Galleon disagree: discrepancies detected automatically in the corpus, with their sources and a note on how to read them.