Carte du Canal des Isles Philippines

Rare map of the northern Philippines showing the route of the Manila galleons from the French edition of Admiral George Anson’ A Voyage Round the World.

Anson famously sought and captured one of the Manila galleons and sold its cargo of 1,313,843 Spanish dollars, making him a rich man for life. After being the first to cross the Pacific Ocean, Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521 and completed the first well-documented exploration of the islands. The Philippines were a sought after location primarily due to their proximity to the Spice Islands but it was not until the discovery of the westward trade winds across the Pacific in 1565 that a regular trading route was established between Manila and Mexico. Manila became a key centre of the spice trade with silver from Spanish mines in Mexico being used to buy spices and other exotic products like silk cloth, porcelain and ivory. These products were then transported on the ‘ galleons’ across the Pacific to Acapulco in Mexico, to Veracruz in the Mexican Gulf and then on to Spain. This route was an alternative to the one west across the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope and north to Europe, which was reserved for the Portuguese by the Treaty of Tordisillas (1494). The Philippines became the capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1565.