The route of a Spanish galleon from Manila to Acapulco was littered with the wrecks of ships that sailed before—hit by storms, hammered by tides, preyed on by pirates. Meanwhile, on the filthy decks, hunger and disease stalked the ranks of the sailors, slaves, and passengers. Spanning thousands of kilometers, every voyage of the Galleon Trade was grueling and lethal… but for the investors who bet fortunes on the trade ships, the payoff was worth every dead body. 

In this episode, let’s sail aboard a galleon as it makes its way from Manila to Mexico. Will we make it to the end alive?

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References:

Casabán, José Luis (2014). “The Reconstruction of a Seventeenth-Century Spanish Galleon.” 2014 Underwater Archaeology Proceedings.

Legarda, Benito J. (1999). After the Galleons: Foreign Trade, Economic Change and Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines. Ateneo de Manila Press.

Seijas, Tatiana (2014). Asian Slaves in Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to Indians. Cambridge University Press.

Isorena, Efren B. (2015). “Maritime Disasters in Spanish Philippines: The Manila-Acapulco Galleons, 1565-1815.” International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 11(1), pp. 53-83.

Schurz, William Lyle (July 1918). “Acapulco and the Manila Galleon.” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 22(1), pp. 18-37.

Hayes, Lieutenant John D. (December 1934). “The Manila Galleons.” Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, 60(12).

Worrall, Simon (15 January 2017). “A Nightmare Disease Haunted Ships During Age of Discovery.” National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scurvy-disease-discovery-jonathan-lamb

Morris, David Z. (17 May 2016). “Cruel ships of prosperity.” Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/the-manila-galleons-that-oceaneered-for-plague-and-profit