The Study On The Operating System Of The Manila Galleon Trade (1565-1642)

Even though the expedition of Magellan successfully completed the global navigation from 1519 to 1521,the return route of pacific ocean was not still opened,which caused the incomplete maritime route.Until the Manila galleon called Saint Pablo sailed from Cebu to Acapulco in 1565,the return route was established finally making up for the last missing part of the global maritime route.The Spanish moved the headquarters of Philippines from Cebu to Manila,and developed it into the center of Spanish Empire in oriental India.Two Manila galleons laded by Chinese goods sailed from Manila to Acapulco in 1573,which marked the birth of Manila galleon trade.It took about half one century to establish the Manila galleon trade,but from the beginning the trade was known for the enormous profit from the transaction between Chinese silk and American silver,which ignited the complicated and fierce conflicts between the Spain itself and its colonies,each colony and colony,and among different interest groups in the same colony.From Spanish king inheriting the throne of Portugal in 1580 to Portuguese Restoration in 1640,the two separated Iberian empires was ruled by the shared House of Hapsburg.However,according to the Agreement of Tomar,Spanish and Portuguese colonies should be governed respectively as before,and their administration and commerce could not be mixed up with each other.However,it provided a chance for Portuguese in Macao to struggle with Spanish in Manila for the profits from the Manila galleon trade,subsequently causing the various responses from other imperial colonies.In addition,Dutch and English intruding in the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth century also aggravated the competition oriented to benefit themselves from the lucrative trade.This article primarily researches the operating system of Manila galleon trade from its establishment in 1565 to the news of the dissolution of Iberian United Empire delivered to the Orient in 1642.In detail,it describes the establishment of the Manilagalleon trade and its basic elements of running firstly,and with unit of the interest group in Spain and its colony,analyses the tangled and provoking relationship because of the competition and cooperation among the Spanish in Manila,in Mexico and Peru,in Seville,and the Portuguese in Macao.Furthermore,based on the above-mentioned,it discusses the internal relationship within the Spanish Empire in the early modern times.