Historically, the Philippine economy was highly linked to the Manila Galleon trade during the Spanish era and with bilateral trade with the Americans during the American colonial period. During the term of President Carlos P. Garcia, pro-Filipino economic policies were first implemented. From the 1960’s up to the middle of the 1970’s, the Philippine economy was recognized as the second largest economy in Asia, next only to Japan.

During the Spanish era, which lasted 250 years, Spanish trading ships sailed the Pacific Ocean bringing goods to and from Manila and Acapulco, Mexico. The twice yearly trip of the Manila Galleons brought porcelain, silk, ivory, spices, and other exotic goods from the Philippines, China, and other countries to Mexico and then to Spain and silver from the New World and other goods to the Philippines. With the Spanish government carrying on trade relations with countries in the Pacific from 1565 to 1815, Manila became the center of commerce in the Far East.

The galleon trade served as the main income-generating business for the Spanish colonists living in Manila. So lucrative was the trade that merchants from Sevilla, Spain, petitioned King Philip of Spain to control the sailing of the Manila galleons. The limitations made it essential to build the largest possible galleons, built of Philippine hardwood which weighed from 1,700 to 2,000 tons, and could carry a thousand passengers. The wrecks of the Manila galleons are legends second only to the wrecks of the treasure ships in the Caribbean. Aside from the goods carried in the galleons, the trade allowed modern, liberal ideas to enter the Philippines, which inspired the movement for independence.

In an initiative to bring about greater understanding of the rich tradition of the galleon trade and its influence as one of the world’s great trading systems for 250 years, which saw the establishment of linkages between America and China and the Spanish-Japanese competition for the Chinese marketplace, the Intramuros Administration will hold the International Conference on the Galleon and the Making of the Pacific on November 9-11, 2009, at the Villa Immaculada on General Luna corner Anda St., Intramuros, Manila.

The three-day event will gather scholars from Spain, the People’s Republic of China, the United States, Mexico, and the Philippines who will look into the infrastructure and context of the galleon trade and its impact on regional trade and on change and cultural transformation. The Manila Galleon Trade contributed to the making of the Pacific trade and was a prototype of what is today known as the global economy.