Acapulco

Manila’s counterpart. Asia in Acapulco and its hinterland, the American side of the Manila Galleon trade (1573-1815)
New Spain played a pivotal role in the Spanish colonial efforts in Asia. ThePhilippines were administratively bound to the American viceroyalty and the configuration of the Manila Galleon trade was aided by Mexican human and material resources from the start. The port ofAcapulco became the American terminus of the avenue of exchanges that came to be known as the Manila Galleon. This small community never developed into a thriving entrepôt that could match Manila, and onlyintermittently became a hub of global exchange when the ships hailing from Asia docked in its harbor. Despite its modest proportions Acapulco became the first stable entryway to the Americas of Asianinformation, people, ideas and material culture. Mexico became a hub of information about Asia, with many works about the region compiled and/or published there, including Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos delas Islas Filipinas and Juan González de Mendoza’s Historia de China. Acapulco was also the entry point for Asians who settled in the area surrounding Acapulco along the Pacific coast of Mexico.Other migrants settled in the hamlets and villages on the road inland to Mexico City, in the vice-regal capital itself and in the city of Puebla de los Angeles. This paper aims at showing a comprehensivesurvey of the repercussions of the South China Sea trade in Acapulco and its hinterland with an emphasis on their demographic and intellectual expressions. The purpose is to provide a transpacificapproach to the histories of either end of the Manila Galleon connection.
Keywords: Acapulco, Manila, Manila Galleon, Asian migration to the Americas

El puerto de Acapulco se configuró por suestratégica posición en el entronque de nuevas rutas comerciales que enlazaban Asia, África, América y Europa. Ubicado en la costa sur de los territorios americanos de Nueva España1 era, junto con...