Manila

·amura·

115

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culture and heritage

La “Nao de China” que unió

a Acapulco con el Oriente

The “Nao of China” that joined

Acapulco with the East

ithout a doubt one of the most

famous episodes of the story

of the New Spain concerns the

Galleon of Manila, also known

as the Nao of China. It was a

vessel that, once a year, linked the ports of Manila

and Acapulco, carrying in its hold silk, porcelain,

spices, fine woods, lacquer, carpets, folding screens

and vases from Asia, or gold and silver from Ameri-

ca, as well as diverse goods from Europe.

The galleons were huge ships developed in

the mid-sixteenth century that combined the

carrying capacity of the carracks with some of

the maneuverability and speed of the caravels.

At the time they were the most powerful ships in

the world and that’s why Spain selected them for

this trade. Although originally King Philip II de-

cided that these trade galleons could not exceed

300 tons nor carry merchandise worth more than

250,000 pesos, in the eighteenth century

the “Santísima Trinidad” came to have a

tonnage of about 2,000 tons and some of

its shipments reached values of over two

and a half million silver pesos.

1.ElGaleóndeManila

representaunode los

episodiosnáuticosmás

importantesdelmundo

yungranpasoa la

globalización./

TheManilaGalleon

representsoneofthe

mostimportantnautical

eventsintheworldand

agreattransitionto

globalization.

-BTCoEFHBT

ycapacidadpara

transportarmercancías,

hacende losgaleones

grandesnavíoscon

unaestructuramuy

característica./

Wineries

andcarryingcapacity

totransportgoods,

bringsthegalleonstheir

characteristicstructure

ashugeships.

in duda alguna, uno de los episodios

más conocidos de la historia novohis-

pana es el referente al Galeón de Manila,

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na”. Se trataba de un bajel que, una vez

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en sus bodegas seda, porcelana, especias, maderas fi-

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rías provenientes de Europa.

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carga de las naos con la maniobrabilidad y algo de la ve-

locidad de las carabelas. En su momento fueron los más

poderosos navíos del mundo, y es por ello que España

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ciales no podrían superar las 300 toneladas ni transportar

mercancía con valor superior a 250,000 pesos, en el siglo

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capacidad de casi 2,000 toneladas y algu-

nos de su cargamentos alcanzaron va-

lores superiores a los dos millones y

medio de pesos de plata.