The Manila galleon
A single annual crossing links Asia to the Americas for 250 years.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 235 years
- Known to
- ± 5 years
- Era
- Early Modern, Holocene
From 1565 Spanish ships run between Manila and Acapulco, carrying American silver west and Chinese silk, porcelain and spices east — a route that made the Pacific a commercial ocean and completed a trade circuit encircling the globe. The voyage took months and lost many ships. It also moved plants, people and languages, and Mexican silver dollars became a common currency across Asia.