The Manila Galleon

By the time Rey Lopez de Villalobos landed in Leyte and declared the Philippines to be Spanish in 1542, Spain should have known only too well of the immense distance and perilous journey between Sevilla Spain and Philippines and the difficulties that this would present for communication and provisioning of Spanish settlers in the years to come.

More than 20 years before his landing, in 1521 Magellan had landed in Philippines having left Europe in 1519 and sailed via Cape Horn and, although Magellan got killed, what was left of his fleet completed the circumnavigation of the globe arriving back in Spain to report the news almost three years later. Garcia Jofre de Loyasa’s expedition left Spain in 1525 and also took the long sea route via Cape Horn where three ships were lost to storms. Loyasa died before reaching Philippines. Saavedra’s expedition reached Philippines in 1527 having sailed from New Spain (Mexico) and was successful only in as much that it rescued  120 survivors of former expeditions.

No settlement had been established over a twenty year period and it looked fairly certain that the journey between Spain and its new colony would always be problematic. However by 1540s Spain had become well established in Mexico and essentially it was logical for the administration in ‘New Spain’ to handle further journeys to the Philippinas vicariously on behalf of the mother land. Legazpi’s expedition sailed from Navidad New Spain (Mexico) in 1564 and Spaniards arrived at Cebu in numbers where long term plans were made. Later in 1571 his settlers transferred their base to Manila and thus began what has become to be known as the ‘Manila Galleon Trade’ which continued relentlessly for another two hundred and fifty years.

The 15,000 mile journey from Spain consisted of three separate parts. First a two month voyage from Sevilla on the Mediterranean coast via Havana to Veracruz on the eastern seaboard of Mexico. Then a months journey across land by mule train via Mexico city to Acapulco on the western seaboard.

Last and certainly not least there was massive unbroken sea journey across the pacific between New Spain and Manila Philippines this was at least three months on the way out to Manila but approximately six months for the return trip due to sailing against the trade winds.

To put this huge distance in perspective, London to Sydney Australia being the longest direct passenger service is only 11,000 miles and even now in the days of jet travel the flights still takes 23 hours! The Manila Galleon journey has the record as the longest distance trade route in history, it must also rank as the route with the longest journey time and probably the most complex and arduous. Given that it persisted for 250 years it also must be among the longest ongoing term for any unchanged trading route.

The route was necessary not only for provisioning of manufactured goods from Spain to the newly settled Philippinas but also for any communication in between. From Spain to Manila this would take six to eight months  however the return trip could take almost a year due to the direction of the Pacific trade winds.  Logistically this meant that a round trip for example to receive a response to a communication would be more likely to take three years due to mismatch between seasonal departure and arrival times of each leg of the journey. Clearly these time scales are based on successful voyages, but the reality was that significant risks were posed from bad weather, perilous seas, navigational error, piracy by the Portuguese, Dutch or British, mutiny of the crew and any other mis-hap that could beset a galleon.

Over the years many hundreds of these boats were lost to the seas along with passengers, crew and cargo. Most of the Manila Galleons were built in Philippines and crewed by Philippinos. These were huge ships that needed between three and four hundred crew in addition they would carry passengers and three hundred tons of cargo. Compared to modern ships, they were short and tall and the forty foot draft was a real hazard in shallow waters especially the coral reefs around the Philippines. Several galleons almost completed the voyage only to get wrecked just before arriving in Manila in the treacherous rip tides between the islands.

The “trade” was multi purpose and its economics are still poorly understood. Certainly there was a buoyant market for all sorts of Asian goods in Europe and also in New Spain.  Many goods were exported in this way including silks, fabrics and ceramics manufactured in China, local good and spices, together with products from other places in Asia including laquerware from Japan, jewels and cottons from Indochina etc.  Manila and some of the other Philippines islands had been trading with visiting ships from the surrounding places such as Fujian, Mallacca, Thailand and Japan since before the Spanish arrived.  Thus the additional outlet for the goods enhanced trade. Many of the goods would be sold to merchants in a huge fair just outside Acapulco after arriving in New Spain which was keenly attended from all around. On the return leg there were no doubt goods from Europe not obtainable locally, but the key ingredient was cash in the form of silver originating in the mines of Peru and other parts of South America which of course was used to pay for the return cargo. So Manila became something of a trading entre port in 16^th and 17^th Century South East Asia.

But irrespective of whether the trade was good or bad and there are conflicting opinions on this; Manila never turned into a Hong Kong, or at least there is little evidence now that the trade has added significantly to the long term wealth of Philippines. This seems to be for a variety of reasons including the following:

• Most of the Spanish posted to Philippines had objectives other than to profit from trading. They were mainly either salaried bureaucrats responsible to government or otherwise missionaries interested in religious teaching and conversion.
• There were relatively few Spanish settlers in Philippines, probably around 5,000 who remained relatively separate and unintegrated. This limited any growth of a home market for goods from a wealthy middle class.
• There was no available skills base in Philippines that could be used to manufacture goods for export or to add value to goods being traded although later production of sugar, tobacco and coffee was started.
• To some extent the trade was one way traffic. In the early years at least there was an insatiable demand for the Asian goods that were landed in New Spain together with a ready supply of silver. However there was no equivalent impetus for the return cargo given that gold or silver or any other means to pay in Philippines was limited to the wealth of individual traders.
• The trade in silks and some other goods was not always profitable due to competition from elsewhere and volatility in the supply of silver.
• Expansion of the trade both to New Spain and other parts of the Spanish Empire was limited by the Spanish government probably to protect industry in New Spain and Peru. The number of sailings in a year was limited to one in 1587.
• Philipinnes never became a separate Viceroyalty under the Spanish Empire but was administered by the Viceroy of New Spain whose interests of course were principally for the betterment of New Spain and this to some extent, conflicted with the interests of both Spain and Philippines.
• Other trading partners also adopted protectionist and restrictive trade policies especially Japan and China.
• Many Chinese settled in Manila in order to profit from the trade. Although they were tolerated and well utilised by the Spanish they were not considered to have equal resident status and therefore much of their wealth ended up in China.
• Many of the merchants from New Spain would travel to Philippines in order to make their trade directly with the foreign merchant, thus the Philippinos were effectively cut out of the trade.
• Manila as a port began to get a reputation for being overly bureaucratic and risky in terms of piracy, theft and corruption.

That said the Manila Galleon played a crucial role in establishing Spanish dominion in the late 16^th and early 17^th Century as well as in supporting growth of Philippines by supplying sought after goods from Europe and the outside.

Strangely when in Philippines it is still easy to sense that there is a distance from the outside world. Maybe its due to modern day restrictions on imported goods both legislative and to some extent contrived by the still uncontrolled customs authorities. Or possibly due to the fact that Manila has never become a transportation hub either by air or sea, and remains a destination port.  Most likely its because Philippinos up and down the place are quite content with the way they are and are in no hurry to emulate any other place in the world. Bravo them!

But there are other modern day carry overs from this story….. One is that Philippinos make up a big proportion of officers and crew in the merchant navies and cruise ships all around the world after the sea faring tradition was well and truly embedded all those years ago. Another one could be the fact that as a result of its sea faring exploits, over the years Philippines more than any other country, has been supported by its overseas workers often to the tune of between 10 and 20% of GDP. Also Philippino overseas workers everywhere, to a man (and woman), make a point of sending home to the family a box of goods at least once a year usually for Christmas. The famous Balikbayan Box, legendary throughout Philippines. Is this out of necessity or tradition? Well I’m sure there are plenty of cases of necessity and of course as part of the spirit of Christmas, but although I’m not a Philippino I’m sure its not easy to forget that Philippines throughout its history has been reliant on provisions being put on board for that once yearly voyage and deep down somewhere in that culture there is still a belief that it continues to be necessary.

The Oldest Churches in the Philippines?

Oriental Mindoro is surprisingly rich in history and has possibly the oldest buildings remaining in Philippines. There are at least two very old ruined churches hidden away; one is known as Simbahang Bato (stone church at Bato) at Banagay Bancuro just to the south of Naujan, the other is known as Kuta Shrine and is in Bangay Anilao near the estuary of the Bongabong river.

So many questions…..who built them, for what purpose, when, and why in these particular locations? Conclusive records do not exist but we can start to build the picture…..

All Philippinos are all taught the Spanish version of history, most of it written by Spanish Jesuit priests stationed in Philippines, but actually their version only tells half of the story. As is always the case history is written by the victor and further elaborated by generations of teachers and to some extent historians, sometimes this can distort or even conceal the truth. In this case Philippines history taught to successive generations has served to cement the very basis of the Philippines nation which in its early days was certainly not firmly established.

Now with the benefit of the vast amount of electronic data now available for all, we can re-examine and start to question the established thinking.

Spanish and Portuguese history in the 16^th Century is complex but it includes the following issues many of which seem to be pivotal to the above questions and when considered together help to lead us to some of the answers we are seeking.

Although not as well documented as the story of Spanish settlement of Philippines, Portuguese influence in what we now call South East Asia and what was then known as the Indies and more specifically the Moluccas, was both widespread and dominant. It is a fact that Portuguese influence was generally earlier than Spanish activity and this partly accounts for the fact that there are several surviving first hand accounts of Spanish experiences in Asia but generally much less Portuguese data available. This imbalance in has tended to generate history from history and to some extent conceal the impact of Portuguese activity in the area that existed for many years before the Spanish became the dominant power.

Portuguese influence in the area predates the arrival of the Spanish by a considerable margin. The Portuguese were established in Goa by 1510 and very quickly within the next 50 years effectively explored and build many forts and trading posts. On the other hand the Spanish never became fully committed to establishing a base in Asia until after the 2^nd half of the 16^th Century and even after this initial commitment progress was limited effectively until the start of the next Century.

Portugal’s objectives in Asia and elsewhere in the world contrasted with those of Spain. Portugal never cemented the concept of a colonial empire based on territory as Spain did, its objective was to optimise financial gains from trade by controlling and optimising maritime trading routes, building trading partnerships rather than by establishing land based territory governance and Christianization.  The Spanish on the other hand, sought to colonise and administrate by establishing governance over local peoples by the physical presence of Spaniards, bureaucratic control and religious conversion.

But this essential difference partly explains the speed with which Portugal was able to become established in many parts of the world during the late 15^th and early 16^th Centuries. It also helps to explain the demise of Portuguese dominion later in the 17^th Century by which time maritime supremacy had become much more risky and expensive to achieve.

The treaty of Tordesillas 1494 between Spain and Portugal promoted further Spanish colonisation of the New World as it gave the Spanish title to any new territories they were to ‘discover’ having approached from westerly direction from a longitudinal line 370 leagues west from Cape Verde Islands but at the same time it effectively prevented Spanish exploration in an Easterly direction from Europe, ie Asia which remained a sphere of the world effectively off limits to Spain due to Portugal’s naval dominance.

There is no doubt that Spanish expansion was both supported by and driven by religious fervour. On the other hand, Portuguese exploration and settlement was for the overriding objective of optimisation of trade to Portugal’s commercial benefit. This model by definition sought to include and tolerate those with other religions in order to keep the peace, promote trade and allow for further expansion.  This contrast in the relative importance attached to furthering and expanding the Catholic faith was at the root of the papacy fully sanctioning the Spanish quest for religious expansion on the back of self financed commercial and military aggression to assert religious conformance especially in the 1530s and 1540s.

Charles 1^st of Spain was also the 5^th Holy Roman Emperor from the age of 19 until his abdication at the age of 54 and provided a further platform for Spain’s colonial ambitions. As the Popes, temporal executive on earth there was no doubt considerable pressure on Charles, either actually or self-imposed, to establish a lasting Catholic presence in Asia.  Pressure which intensified as he reached the age of retirement and he was increasingly able to assert that he was unable to achieve his religious objectives based on the Portuguese model of colonialism and that nothing short of a Catholic Republic would achieve his ambitions and provide him with a fitting legacy in return for his life’s work.

Spanish objectives for the Philippines started to materialise even though political agreement with Portugal had not been reached in Europe. It appears inevitable that agreement at least at a familial level must have come about after 1525 by virtue of John 3 of Portugal marriage to the sister of Charles 1 of Spain and at the same time Charles 1 of Spain’s marriage to the sister of John 3 of Portugal.   However the Treaty of Zaragoza with Portugal in 1529 flies in the face of such agreement as Spain essentially contracted out of any further claim on the Moluccas and receives 350,000 ducats and a new Demarcation line at 297 leagues west of Malacca is set which technically also includes the Philippines [link].

By 1542 however, Charles is sufficiently emboldened, possibly by the evangelical influence of the Counter Reformation, and supports an expedition from New Spain (Mexico) as a result of which the ‘Felippinas’ are declared Spanish.

Spanish settlement in Philippines was slow for a long time after this mainly due to the tortuous geographical route which included a two month journey from Sevilla on the Mediterranean coast of Spain via Havana to Veracruz on the eastern seaboard of Mexico, then by land to Acapulco on the western seaboard after which a massive sea journey of at least three months was necessary across the pacific to Manila Philippines. This route was necessary not only for provisioning of manufactured goods but also for any communication between Spain and the newly settled Philippinas. In one direction this would take eight to ten months  however a round trip for example to receive a response to a communication in practise due to mismatch between seasonal departure times of each leg would be more likely to take three years.

More Spanish settlers arrived in Cebu by this route with Legazpi’s expedition in 1564 however there was no Spanish presence in Manila until 1572 and significant building did not take place there until 1580s. In the 1560s and 70s Portugal did not recognise the existence of Philippines and were effectively at war with Spain in Philippines. The Portuguese fleet blockade Cebu and later Manila several times between 1565 and 1572 and demanded departure of the Spaniards. True accord was not reached until 1580 when there was full political union of Spain and Portugal following a Portuguese succession crisis which allowed Spain to effectively govern all of Portugal’s affairs thereafter until 1640.

There are some surviving first hand accounts that there was already some Portuguese settlement in Mindoro in 1570 before the Spanish had even settled Manila. [Reference]

Even before the Portuguese muscled in on the game there was old Chinese trading route between the Pearl River Delta area of China (Canton / Macau / Hong Kong) and the Molluccas islands (Indonesia) and because it is directly en route its likely that Chinese traders were regularly visiting Mindoro either to trade manufactured goods or more likely to take  natural produce including lumber, fish, game, wildfowl and possibly rice for trading elsewhere. In particular a settlement on a river Bato in recorded as a trading place which is most likely Mindoro.

On the other hand the first Jesuits under Spanish governance did not arrive in Philippines from Mexico until 1581 and the building of mission stations took place from 1595 starting in Manila. The Jesuits were organised along militaristic lines hence their reputation as the soldiers of God, they recorded their endeavours meticulously and have identified the location of the churches they built of which there were many, however there is no mention of any church in Mindoro.

Place names also provide some evidence. Many places originally named by Portuguese end with AO for example, Goa, Macao, Davao, Mindanao. Kuta Shrine is situated in Barangay Anilao, which suggests a Portuguese influence.  Mindoro is also a corruption of the Portuguese which on some early Portuguese maps is referred to as ‘Vindoro’.

Architecturally, both buildings seems not to be in the Jesuit style whos churches are generally much grander and more extravagant. They are more rustic and functional with massive walls probably with defence in mind.    The many carved stone sun logos are the ‘black sun’ emblem associated with the Jesuits but the central heart emblem belongs to the Augustinian order which would predate Jesuit period. There are also still some signs that the five or six sun logos were added after the original construction. [picture]

The Portuguese built what they called ‘feitoras’ (trading posts) and ‘fortalezas’ (fortification) and many were built between 1510 and 1550 in S E Asia. Building of the Church was often concurrent with establishment of the trading post and in many cases the church was the only stone building. On this basis the church would have been truly multi purpose, serving not only as a place of worship but as an administrative centre, storage place, for defence and also detainment. In Africa the Portuguese word for church ‘igreja’ has become the Swahili word for gaol.  The first Christian church in Malacca was built by the Portuguese in 1521 on top of the hill for defence and was only later used as a church when its defensive function became less important.

The Portuguese established a trading post at Ternate (Spice Island) in 1522. It is also recorded elsewhere that in 1538 the Portuguese Bishop of Goa despatched missionaries to Mindanao and that many natives were baptized, this strongly suggests that a church(es) must have also been established.

Later in 1557, a trading post was established by the Portuguese in Macao. The coast of Mindoro is directly on this trading route between the Spice islands and Macau therefore settlements on the route would have served the usual dual purpose of increasing trade and securing the existing trade route.   The Portuguese had a much more Laisez Faire approach to expansion as compared to the Spanish model, administration was minimal and growth of the trading network took place on an organic opportunistic commercial basis without control and direction from the mother country. To some extent the Portugese settlers were freelancers with no real ties to Portugal.  it is perhaps not surprising that good records do not exist.

These outposts were intended to further commerce and trade by providing for maintenance and supply of Portugal’s maritime presence but also to intercept trading ie. to exert control over a port. Without exception settlement and building took place where there already existed a flourishing trade of some sort. In both instances these buildings in Mindoro are located some distance from navigable water however its quite likely that the coast line could have changed over the course of five centuries. In the case of Bancurro church there is evidence that the location may once have been on the bank of the river which has since changed its course.

This suggests that both were built purely as churches possibly to evangelise the existing population or to support new European Settlers as a church and possibly as protection from hostile invaders.  Both churches may have been built inland as a means of protection from invasion by seaborne Morro raiders from other islands although folklore would have it that this strategy was not always effective.

The first Jesuits in Asia were Loyola and Xavier whos trip was initiated directly by King John 3 of Portugal. Thomas J Campbell states in his book ‘The Jesuits – 1534 -1921’ on the travels of Xavier in the Moluccas in 1546; ‘Up and down the islands of the archipelago he travelled meeting degeneracy of the worst kind at every step. But he established missionary posts, with the wonderful result that ten years later, De Beira whom he sent there, had forty seven stations and three thousand Christian families in these islands.’  This is describing the Spanish take over of the Portuguese empire.

The whereabouts of all of these mission stations, assuming that they existed, has never been comprehensively established however it is reasonable to expect that several of them would have been located in present day Philippines. Portuguese maps of this period not surprisingly include modern day Philippines as part of the Moluccas even though not all of the islands were shown or even known about. However some of the modern day island names are recognisable on early Portuguese maps including Cubu (Cebu), Negros (Negros) Polaguan (Palawan).  There is also a reversal on some maps of this era of Mindanao and Mindoro, clearly there was some confusion about the whereabouts or even the existence of both islands.

The history of the Portuguese St Pauls’s church in Malacca is of interest because although it was originally constructed in 1522 it was later gifted by the existing church in Malacca to the Jesuits and the deeds handed to Xavier in 1548. This was at the height of the Counter Reformation in Europe, although there is no doubt that the Jesuits were self appointed as the spearhead of this quest to win new converts to the faith and to consolidate and purify the existing fold, to some extent their reputation preceded them. Certainly also their religious zeal as the ‘soldiers of god’ backed directly by the Vatican was second to none amongst the existing catholic denominations. To co opt existing churches and their congregations was a means of instantly boosting the number of so called ‘converts’.  In the event that the two buildings in question existed in 1548 it is probable that they also would have been ceded to the Jesuits at the same time as St Paul’s.

It therefore seems likely that these two churches in Mindoro were built by early Portuguese settlers in 1520s or 1530s. Alternatively they may have been built by the Portuguese immediately following the journeys of the first Jesuits in 1546. In either case the churches would have been built by Portuguese and most likely pre date the founding of the Philippines.