Trading between Latin America and… Ming Dynasty?
Generally in Latin America people associate the begining of the interaction with China and its people with the arrival of the first Chinese inmigrants in the region after the Opium Wars in second half of the 19th Century. At this time, most Latin American republics were just a few decades old, and China was ruled by the Qing Dynasty, the last dynasty of its imperial period.
Is not for Latin American people to acknowledge that the was a very important trading exchange between Spanish America and the Ming Dynasty, previous to the Qing. This exchange between three continents: Europe, Asia and Americas resulted in the first globalization process in history, changing forever the lives of millions of people, and setting a path to future colonial empires.
This will be the first article on a series about the relationship between Spanish Americas and the Ming Dynasty. Its purpose will be to give some context to the reality of these regions in this period of history so we can connect easily to the events that are going to be presented in later posts.
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty began in 1368, after Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 ended almost a century of Mongol rule over China and became Hongwu 洪武: the first Ming emperor.
In the first three decades of the 15th Century, the third Ming emperor: emperor Yongle 永乐 organized and promoted the journeys of the Treasure Fleet, commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He 郑和. The Fleet reached then South East Asia, India and Africa, showing its power, bringing gifts to foreign rulers, and expanding Ming’s influence as a superpower in the region.
Despite the success of the Fleet to bring forign countries under Chinese orbit, in 1433 and during the rule of emperor Xuande 宣德, China decided to close itself to the World for centuries to come.
This change of route in foreign policy still puzzles more than one academic to this day. There are though many possible reasons that could explain this phenomenon. The first was defense: the Mongols beyond the northern border of the empire still posed a threat to the Ming rule. Thus Beijing made big efforts to reinforce and expand the Great Wall until its current dimensions.
The second reason might be budget: the maintenance costs of the Treasure Fleet expeditions were enormous compared to the little economic results it gave.
The third is politics: there was a strong political rivalry between the two factions that served as advisors for the emperor, the bureucrats and the court eunuchs.
Regarding the economy, the Ming enjoyed a period of abundant food production during the first half of the 15th Century. The decades of 1420s and 1430s enjoyed relatively higher temperatures, which increased the food supply and the tax revenue in grain.
It is precisely this preference of grain over currency for tax payment that evidence one of the biggest economic problems of the empire: the monetary policy. During Mongol rule, the government promoted the use of paper currency. Unfortunately, during the first half of the 15th Century, it had lost most of its value due to constant monetary expansion without metallic backing (non-convertible paper money). This currency injections generated inflation and disencouraged the use of money for trade. Also, this currency lacked value outside the empire borders so it wasn’t useful for foreign trade. To face this problem, the goverment promoted the use of copper coins, but supply shortages of this metal reduced the quality of the coins with time, making them not a realistic alternative. This motivated Chinese merchants to use silver instead for exchange of goods and deposit of value, as silver value remained stable and growing over time, despite not having the government’s support nor recognition.
The second half of the 15th Century didn’t bring good news for the Ming Dynasty. This period brought colder years, reducing crop production. This scarcity unleashed famines throughout the country, reducing the population. Adding to this crisis, there was a contraction of mining production as well, creating an important monetary contraction. This scenario caused a terrible economic crisis. This lack of liquidity in the economy accelerated the adoptance of silver as currency. At some point the government had to recognize silver as the official currency, since the economy was de facto using it already.
This change of currency at the end of the 15th Century broght a list of advantages. First, it allowed an explosive growth in manufactured goods, as they were being exported to region like Japan, South East Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and eventually reaching Europe, where Chinese cheap silk and white-and-blue china, the famous Ming Dynasty ceramics, created a big demand.
This remarkable economic growth ended the famines and set back the empire in the course of economic development. The city of Suzhou (next to the modern Shanghai) was maybe the most iconic centre of this industrial boom. Even today we can find beautiful mansions and gardens, as well as impressive city walls, all built by request of the wealthy merchants of the time.
The arrival of the first Portugese explorers in the 16th Century only boosted this trend. Portugese ships allowed larger amounts of Chinese goods to be exported China without effort. This was tolerated because the Europeans paid in precious silver obtained from their overseas colonies and took care of the risky and expensive business of shipping Chinese goods, assuming all the costs and losses.
The process of incorporation of silver in Chinese economy was completed during the first half of the 16th Century. In this period, the Chinese economy is growing fast and is hungry for silver, and here is where our other protagonist comes to play…
Spanish Territories in America
We all know that Spain controlled most of the American continent since the first half of the 16th Century, but they also stablished a settlement in Manila, Philippines in 1565.
For Spain, it was important to find a way into the East Asian spices market, but couldn’t sail around Africa due to restrictions imposed by the signature of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494), an agreement between Spain and Portugal in which these 2 countries divided for themselves the new discovered lands and trade routes. This forced Spanish ships to cross the Atlantic and sail from their territories in the Americas through the Pacific to Asia, and then do the trip back. But this logistic limitation, on the other side, provided Spain the key to become one of the main actors in the Asian market for centuries: abundant deposits of silver in the Americas. Manila gave Spain a base to access the East Asian market, but their control over New Spain (modern day Mexico) and Peru provided the resources to keep leading role in it.
The Spanish trade expansion in the Atlantic and the Pacific brought the first global currency: the piece of eight (Spanish dollar). This silver coin was the mean of exchange among many Asian nations for centuries, even after the independence of Latin American republics. Its high grade and abundance made it the most accepted foreign currency in China.
Mexico was a territory with an important strategic location for trade with Asia: it was between Europe and Asia, it had lots of raw materials and a big population to extract and transform them. For the reasons above mentioned, and because of the huge distance between the Manila and Madrid, the Capitancy General of the Philippines was set as a dependency of the viceroyalty of New Spain instead of being under direct control of the crown itself.
The naval system that made trade between Asia and America possible was known as the Manila galleons. These ships loaded with silver and other goods departed from Acapulco towards Manila and came back full of spices, tea, silk, china, and other Asian goods very demanded by the peoples of New Spain and Peru. This trade system began in 1565 and ended in 1815.
Given the abundant riches found in the Americas, the Spanish crown’s main concern was to secure a consistent flow of money from America to Europe (and not the other way), so they imposed a trade monopoly over the viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru. This meant that there were certain products that the American territories were forbidden to produce, like wine and olives, and had to be imported solely from Spain. Spain then sent merchant ships loaded with these goods to trade and bring back gold and silver to Europe. Nonetheless, the American dependencies soon started not only to produce these goods, but also to trade them among themselves. Some examples of this forbidden trade is the Peruvian wine that was sold in Central America, competing with the Spanish wine in quality and price. Also the yerba mate (a plant used to brew drinks) sold from Buenos Aires to Quito, passing through today’s Peru and Bolivia.
We know realize the all hispanic colonies traded among them. There was though, one specific trade relationship that is relevant to our topic in hand: the trade between Peru and New Spain. Trade among these viceroyalties was maritime, reducing freight costs. It was carried between the ports of Acapulco in New Spain and Callao in Peru, using Portobelo in today’s Panama as an intermediary. Peruvian silver purchased Asian goods from Mexico, and later it would be sent to Manila, maintaining the galleon system.
In this Asian-American trade there was a single loser: Spain, who saw losses as Peruvian silver went straight to Asia without ever reaching Europe. This is why in 1591 the crown prohibitted trade among New Spain and Peru. This decision had to be reiterated in 1631 and 1634, which proves that this trade persisted despite bureucratic barriers.
Besides silver, American territories had other valuable goods to export to Europe and Asia: crops. American pre-hispanic civilizations had developed advanced agriculture and genetic improvement techniques that allowed them to domesticate a consirably large number of plants with a high nutritional value that could grow in many different weathers and soils. Some of these vegetables are potatoes, sweet potatoes, casava, beans, tomatoes, chilli peppers, peanuts, tobacco, cocoa, etc.
Many of these plants are so strongly associated with Chinese cuisine that many Chinese are not aware of their foreign origin. For example, chilli peppers are base of Sichuan and Henan cuisine; peanuts are a very popular snack and is used in huoguo sauces; China is the largest producer of tobacco; sweet potatoes are very popular in Fujian and nothern China, where it’s used to make different dishes and even noodles; tomatoes are used in drinks and in popular dishes.
Afterwords
First of all, thanks for reaching this far. As mentioned above, I will expand on more interesting facts about the interaction between Ming China and the Spanish Empire in the following posts. Please follow my blog and stay tuned!
Sources
- Time, Money, and the Weather: Ming China and the “Great Depression” of the Mid-Fifteenth Century. William S. Atwell.
- The Monetization of Silver in the Ming (1368–1644): China’s Links to the Global Economy. Wan Ming.
- Comercio en el virreinato (2022). Recovered from Historia Peruana. https://historiaperuana.pe/periodo-colonial/virreinato/comercio-virreinato.
- Spain and China in the Age of Globalization (2009). Luis Francisco Martínez Montes. https://www.theglobalist.com/spain-and-china-in-the-age-of-globalization-part-i/
- Comercio Interno en América Colonial. recovered from Mi Historia Universal. https://mihistoriauniversal.com/edad-moderna/comercio-interno-america-colonial
