Coming Soon: A Museum of the Galleon Trade
Once, I was on a panel to select the best history teacher of a Metro Manila city. I asked the finalists, “What do you consider the 10 most important events of Philippine history?” Many replied (panicking), “Magellan’s discovery of the Philippines” [long pause] … “Cry of Balintawák … Martial Law … EDSA?”
Actually, the Museum of the Filipino People at Rizal Park surveys the panorama of our past, much of it inferred from geological, archaeological, anthropological, and linguistic studies. Hinting at the complexity and global effects of the galleon trade, a major feature of our history, is an exhibit on the 1,600 shipwreck of San Diego, sunk off Batangas during a battle between Spaniards (with Pinoy crew) and Dutch.
The new museum, the Museo del Galeón, will greatly expand our knowledge. The museum is being formed by a foundation spearheaded by Sen. Edgardo Angara, Hans Sy, and former Mexican ambassador Tomas Calvillo. SM broke ground at the Mall of Asia last week for the museum building that fittingly faces Manila Bay and the galleons’ Cavite anchorage. The centerpiece will be a full-size replica of a galleon in a magnificent building designed by Filipino and Mexican architects.
Manila was a major center of world trade from 1565 when the first galleon sailed from Cebu to 1815 when the last galleon lifted anchor. Goods from all over Asia—silk, porcelain, spices, etc.—were brought to Manila, shipped across the Pacific to Acapulco, and then to the rest of the Americas and Europe. Each year, up to three ships (galleon or nao) sailed, adding up to 350 to 400 crossings in each direction. New World silver coin and bullion were received in payment, though the bulk promptly exited to China and other foreign trade goods suppliers.
The commerce did not benefit indios who mainly logged and hauled timber down from the forests; constructed ships; supplied foodstuff; and served as crew. Demand was only for a handful of local products like cotton cloth from Ilocos and locally made objects d’art.
Shipping space was exclusive to religious orders and resident Spaniards. Profits therefore accrued to the favored and to the foreign merchants who supplied trade goods. However, taxes generated returned in the form of the real situado or subsidy that financed the colonial government machinery and public and ecclesiastical structures.
More importantly, the galleons brought Western thinking and institutions; commercial plants we take for granted— coffee, tobacco, maize, cacao, cassava, peanuts, chili pepper, beans, and tomato; and, last but not least, priests who made the Philippines Catholic.
By the late 1700s, trans-Pacific trade began to decline with falling foreign demand for traditional exports; greater competition from British, Dutch, and other traders; depletion of Mexican and Peruvian silver mines; the industrial revolution and cheaper European substitutes; and the start of the Latin American Wars of Independence that severed our ties across the Pacific. The end of the galleon trade also accelerated our efforts for economic self-reliance.
The Museo de Galeón will help Filipinos, including history teachers, better appreciate the 375 years that separated Magellan and Andrés Bonifacio.
‘The galleons brought Western thinking and institutions; commercial plants we take for granted—
coffee, tobacco, maize, cacao, cassava, peanuts, chili pepper, beans, and tomato; and, last but not least, priests who made the Philippines Catholic.’
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