A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

by Baron George Anson Anson

CHAPTER X

AN ACCOUNT OF THE COMMERCE CARRIED ON BETWEEN THE CITY OF MANILA ON THE ISLAND OF LUCONIA, AND THE PORT OF ACAPULCO ON THE COAST OF MEXICO

About the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth, the searching after new countries, and new branches of commerce, was the reigning passion among several of the European princes. But those who engaged most deeply and fortunately in these pursuits were the kings of Spain and Portugal, the first of them having discovered the immense and opulent continent of America and its adjacent islands, whilst the other, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, had opened to his fleets a passage to the southern coast of Asia, usually called the East Indies, and by his settlements in that part of the globe, became possessed of many of the manufactures and natural productions with which it abounded, and which, for some ages, had been the wonder and delight of the more polished and luxurious part of mankind.

In the meantime, these two nations of Spain and Portugal, who were thus prosecuting the same views, though in different quarters of the world, grew extremely jealous of each other, and became apprehensive of mutual encroachments. And, therefore, to quiet their jealousies, and to enable them with more tranquillity to pursue the propagation of the Catholick faith in these distant countries (they having both of them given distinguished marks of their zeal for their mother church, by their butchery of innocent pagans), Pope Alexander VI. granted to the Spanish crown the property and dominion of all places, either already discovered, or that should be discovered, an hundred leagues to the westward of the islands of Azores, leaving all the unknown countries to the eastward of this limit to the industry and disquisition of the Portuguese; and this boundary being afterwards removed two hundred and fifty leagues more to the westward, by the agreement of both nations, it was imagined that this regulation would have suppressed all the seeds of future contests. For the Spaniards presumed that the Portuguese would be thereby prevented from meddling with their colonies in America, and the Portuguese supposed that their East Indian settlements, and particularly the Spice Islands, which they had then newly found out, were for ever secured from any attempts of the Spanish nation.

But it seems the infallibility of the Holy Father had, on this occasion, deserted him, and for want of being more conversant in geography, he had not foreseen that the Spaniards, by pursuing their discoveries to the west, and the Portuguese to the east, might at last meet with each other, and be again embroiled, as it actually happened within a few years afterwards. For Ferdinand Magellan, an officer in the King of Portugal's service, having received some disgust from the court, either by the defalcation of his pay, or by having his parts, as he conceived, too cheaply considered, he entered into the service of the King of Spain. As he appears to have been a man of ability, he was desirous of signalizing his talents in some enterprize which might prove extremely vexatious to his former masters, and might teach them to estimate his worth from the greatness of the mischief he brought upon them, this being the most obvious and natural turn of all fugitives, more especially of those who, being really men of capacity, have quitted their country by reason of the small account that has been made of them. Magellan, in pursuance of these vindictive views, knowing that the Portuguese considered their traffic to the Spice Islands as their most important acquisition in the east, resolved with himself to instigate the court of Spain to an attempt, which, by still pushing their discoveries to the westward, would give them a right to interfere both in the property and commerce of those renowned countries; and the King of Spain approving of this project, Magellan, in the year 1519, set sail from the port of Sevil in order to carry this enterprize into execution. He had with him a considerable force, consisting of five ships and two hundred and thirty-four men, with which he stood for the coast of South America, and ranging along shore, he at length, towards the end of October 1520, had the good fortune to discover those streights which have since been denominated from him, and which opened him a passage into the South Seas. This, which was the first part of his scheme, being thus happily accomplished, he, after some stay on the coast of Peru, set sail again to the westward, with a view of falling in with the Spice Islands. In this extensive run across the Pacific Ocean, he first discovered the Ladrones or Marian Islands, and continuing on his course, he at length reached the Philippine Islands, which are the most eastern part of Asia, where, venturing on shore in an hostile manner, and skirmishing with the Indians, he was slain.

By the death of Magellan, his original project of securing some of the Spice Islands was defeated; for those who were left in command contented themselves with ranging through them, and purchasing some spices from the natives, after which they returned home round the Cape of Good Hope, being the first ships which had ever surrounded this terraqueous globe, and thereby demonstrated, by a palpable experiment obvious to the grossest and most vulgar capacity, the reality of its long-disputed spherical figure.

But though Spain did not hereby acquire the property of any of the Spice Islands, yet the discovery of the Philippines, made in this expedition, was thought too considerable to be neglected, since these were not far distant from those places which produced spices, and were very well situated for the Chinese trade, and for the commerce of other parts of India. A communication, therefore, was soon established and carefully supported between these islands and the Spanish colonies on the coast of Peru: whence the city of Manila (which was built on the island of Luconia, the chief of the Philippines) became in a short time the mart for all Indian commodities, which were brought up by the inhabitants, and were annually sent to the South Seas, to be there vended on their account; and the returns of this commerce to Manila being principally made in silver, the place by degrees grew extremely opulent, and its trade so far increased as to engage the attention of the court of Spain, and to be frequently controlled and regulated by royal edicts.

In the infancy of this trade it was carried on from the port of Callao to the city of Manila, in which navigation the trade-wind continually favoured them; so that notwithstanding these places were distant between three and four thousand leagues, yet the voyage was often made in little more than two months. But then the return from Manila was extremely troublesome and tedious, and is said to have sometimes lasted above a twelvemonth; which, if they pretend to ply up within the limits of the trade-wind, is not at all to be wondered at. Indeed, though it is asserted that in their first voyages they were so imprudent and unskilful as to attempt this course, yet that route was soon laid aside, by the advice, as it is said, of a Jesuit, who persuaded them to steer to the northward till they got clear of the trade-winds, and then by the favour of the westerly winds, which generally prevail in high latitudes, to stretch away for the coast of California. This we know hath been the practice for at least a hundred and sixty years past, as Sir Thomas Cavendish, in the year 1586, engaged off the south end of California a vessel bound from Manila to the American coast. And it was in compliance with this new plan of navigation, and to shorten the run both backwards and forwards, that the staple of this commerce to and from Manila was removed from Callao on the coast of Peru, to the port of Acapulco on the coast of Mexico, where it continues fixed to this time.