The Manila galleons or Manila-Acapulco galleons (Spanish: Galeones de Manila-

Acapulco) were Spanish trading ships that sailed once or twice per year across the Pacific
Ocean between Manila in the Philippines, and Acapulco, New Spain (present-day
Mexico). The name changed reflecting the city that the ship was sailing from.[1] Service
was inaugurated in 1565 with the discovery of the ocean passage by Andrés de Urdaneta,
and continued until 1815 when the Mexican War of Independence put a permanent stop
to the galleon trade route.

Though service was not inaugurated until almost 50 years after the death of Christopher
Columbus, the Manila galleons constitute the fulfillment of Columbus' dream of sailing
west to go east to bring the riches of the Indies to Spain, and the rest of Europe.

Discovery of the route

The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade began when Andrés de Urdaneta, sailing in convoy
under Miguel López de Legazpi, discovered a return route from Cebu City to Mexico in
1565. Attempting the return the fleet split up, some heading south. Urdaneta reasoned
that the trade winds of the Pacific might move in a gyre as the Atlantic winds did. If in
the Atlantic ships made a wide swing (the "volta") to the west to pick up winds that
would bring them back from Madeira, then, he reasoned, by sailing far to the north before
heading east he would pick up trade winds to bring him back to the west coast of North
America.

Though he sailed to 38 degrees North before turning east, his hunch paid off, and he hit
the coast near Cape Mendocino, California, then followed the coast south to San Blas and
later to Acapulco.[2] Most of his crew died on the long initial voyage, for which they had
not sufficiently provisioned.

By the eighteenth century it was understood that a less northerly track was sufficient, but
galleon navigators steered well clear of the forbidding and rugged fogbound California
coast; According to historian William Lytle Schurz, "They generally made their landfall
well down the coast, somewhere between Point Conception and Cape San Lucas...After
all, these were preeminently merchant ships, and the business of exploration lay outside
their field, though chance discoveries were welcomed".[3]

The first motivation for exploration of Alta California was to scout out possible way-
stations for the seaworn Manila galleons on the last leg of their journey. Early proposals
came to little, but in the later eighteenth century several Manila galleons put in at
Monterey.
Spice trade

The Manila-Acapulco trade route started in 1568 and Spanish treasure fleets (white) and
its eastwards rivals, the Portuguese India Armadas routes of 1498-1640 (blue)

Trade served as the fundamental income-generating business for Spanish colonists living
in the Philippine Islands. A total of 110 Manila galleons set sail in the 250 years of the
Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (1565 to 1815). Until 1593, three or more ships would set
sail annually from each port. The Manila trade was becoming so lucrative that Seville
merchants petitioned king Philip II of Spain of their losses, and secured a law in 1593
that set a limit of only two ships sailing each year from either port, with one kept in
reserve in Acapulco and one in Manila. An "armada", an armed escort, was also allowed.

With such limitations it was essential to build the largest possible galleons, which were
the largest class of ships known to have been built anywhere up to that time.[4] In the 16th
century, they averaged from 1,700 to 2,000 tons, were built of Philippine hardwoods and
could carry a thousand passengers. The Concepción, wrecked in 1638, was 43 to 49 m
(140–160 feet) long and displacing some 2,000 tons. The Santísima Trinidad was 51.5 m
long. Most of the ships were built in the Philippines and only eight in Mexico. The
Manila-Acapulco galleon trade ended when Mexico gained independence from Spain in
1821, after which the Spanish crown took direct control of the Philippines. (This became
manageable in the mid-1800s upon the invention of steam power ships and the opening of
the Suez Canal, which reduced the travel time from Spain to the Philippines to 40 days.)

The galleons carried spices, porcelain, ivory, lacquerware, processed silk cloth gathered
from both the Spice Islands, and Asia-Pacific, to be sold in European markets. East Asia
trading was primarily on a silver standard; the goods were mostly bought by Mexican
silver. The cargoes were transported by land across Mexico to the port of Veracruz on the
Gulf of Mexico, where they were loaded onto the Spanish treasure fleet bound for Spain.
This route was the alternative to the trip west across the Indian Ocean, and around the
Cape of Good Hope, which was reserved to Portugal according to the Treaty of
Tordesillas. It also avoided stopping over at ports controlled by competing powers, such
as Portugal and the Netherlands. From the early days of exploration, the Spanish knew
that the American continent was much narrower across the Panamanian isthmus than
across Mexico. They tried to establish a regular land crossing there, but the thick jungle,
and malaria made it impractical.
It took four months to sail across the Pacific Ocean from Manila to Acapulco, and the
galleons were the main link between the Philippines and the viceregal capital at Mexico
City and thence to Spain itself. Many of the so-called "Kastilas" or Spaniards in the
Philippines were actually of Mexican descent, and the Hispanic culture of the Philippines
is somewhat close to Mexican culture.[5] Even when Mexico finally gained its
independence, the two nations still continued to trade, except for a brief lull during the
Spanish-American War. The Manila galleons sailed the Pacific for nearly three centuries,
bringing to Spain their cargoes of luxury goods, economic benefits, and cultural
exchange.

The wrecks of the Manila galleons are legends second only to the wrecks of treasure
ships in the Caribbean. In 1568, Miguel López de Legazpi's own ship, the San Pablo (300
tons), was the first Manila galleon to be wrecked en route to Mexico.

Monopolyo ng Tabako
Ang Monopolyo ng Tabako ay isang programang pang-ekonomiya na
pinasinayaan ni Jose Basco y Vargas noong 1781, labinlimang taon
makalipas na ipakilala sa Filipinas ang sistemang monopolyo. Ang
programang ito ay nangangahulugan na ang pagtatanim, pag-aani at
pangangalakal ng tabako ay nasa mahigpit na pangangalaga at kontrol ng
pamahalaan – isang pamamaraan upang matiyak at mapanatiling malaki ang
salaping pumapasok sa Espanya.

Ang Pagtatanim
Sinimulan ang nasabing monopolyo sa Maynila at sa mga karatig nitong
bayan sa gitna at timog Luzon, at nang lumaon ay maging sa mga lalawigan
ng Pangasinan, Zambales, Mindoro at Cagayan. Ang pinakamalaking
taniman ng tabako sa Filipinas ay sa lalawigan ng Ilocos at Cagayan
sapagkat mayroon itong klima na pinakamainam para sa magandang paglago
ng halaman.

Naging sapilitan ang pagtatanim ng tabako sa Filipinas kaya marami sa mga

halaman at iba pang pananim ay di na nabigyang-pansin at tuluyan nang
nakalimutan. Ang pamahalaang Espanya ay nagtakda ng kaukulang dami at
kalidad ng produktong ititinda sa kanila ng mga magsasaka kung kaya't
nagmistulang bandala ang nasabing monopolyo. Dahil lahat ng matataas na
uri ng tabako ay nasa kamay na ng mga Espanyol, ang mga magsasaka na
nagnanais na gumamit ng tabako ay kinakailangan pang bumili sa mga
pamilihang pagmamay-ari ng pamahalaan. Sa panahong iyon, ang pag-
iimbak ng tabako sa mga kamalig ay isang paglabag sa batas.
Mga Suliranin
Sa simula pa lamang ay malaking problema na ang idinulot ng monopolyo ng
tabako sa mga katutubo. Pinagsamantalahan ang mga Filipino at ginamit ang
relihiyon upang sumunod sila sa mga kautusan ng pamahalaan. Upang
mayroong magagandang tabako na matira sa kanila, ang mga magsasaka ay
natutong magtanim nito sa mga maliliit na paso na siyang ikinagalit naman ng
mga Espanyol. Ang mga katutubong Igorot naman ay nagpupuslit ng mga
matataas na kalidad ng tabaka mula sa Ilocos at kanilang itinitinda sa
pamahalaan. Ang pinakamalaking suliraning kinaharap ng Espanya ay ang
kalat na demonstrasyon at pag-aaklas na isinagawa ng mga magsasakang
Filipino.

Pagtatapos ng Monopolyo
Noong 1883, makalipas ang isandaang taon, ay tuluyan nang itinigil ang
monopolyo ng tabako sa Filipinas. May ilang lalawigan ang patuloy pa rin sa
pagtatanim nito ngunit hindi na ito sapilitan at naging pansariling produksyon
na lamang.