Page 183 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

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stronghold to trade with China. For the Chinese maritime merchants who lived in
Fujian region, the coming of the Spaniard undoubtedly provided a new business for
overseas trade. For example, in 1639, a Chinese of!cial Fu, Yuan-Chu (!!!)
had mentioned in his report as follows:
The Franks (Spaniard) from Luzon Island saw our ban for maritime activity, but secretly
visited Tamsui and Keelung from time to time and did business with vice businessmen. It
only needs one day from their place (the coast of the Fujian province) navigated to Taiwan.
Our government knew the problem but could not forbid. Even we prohibit these activities
but could not eradicate them. This situation only led the of!cials and smugglers who reside
along the coastal regions easily made pro!ts from maritime trade. (Gu 1966: 33)

The scale of the trade of the Spaniard in northern Taiwan was far less than that of
the Dutch who lived in southern Taiwan. Most of the funds for trade by the
Spaniard were sent by relief fleets navigating from the Philippines. It was the !rst
time in 1628, the Spanish galleon Rosario from Manila purchased a big quantity of
merchandises with very low price from the Chinese traders who came to Keelung
for business (Mateo et al. 2001: 136). This business pro!t reflects the highly
commercial potential. For this reason, in the next year (1629), the !rst echelon of
the relief fleet from Manila visited Keelung, attracted a group of Manila traders
carrying cash about 200,000 pesos to Taiwan, wishing to purchase Chinese cargos
and silks (Mateo et al. 2003: 329). Thus, northern Taiwan had been included into
the Spanish “Manila galleon trade” and shared the business prospect of the silver
which was brought from America. The new circumstances also promoted the trade
status of northern Taiwan in the East Asia waters (Chen. 2005: 208).
Most purchase of the Spaniard focused on silk cargos, but not the ceramic trade.
Even though, some de!nite ceramic trade records still could be seen in the
intelligence that the Dutch acquired. For example, in 1628, the Dutch got the
information from Keelung and Tamsui that there were people who traded (with
Spain) from Fucho (!!) in violation of the ban. Others shipped large quantity of
porcelains from northern region of China to northern Taiwan. In February, 1633,
The Dutch captured a Chinese junk which sailed from Keelung to Manila, and most
of its cargos belonged to Spaniard, which included 1560 pieces of Chinese
porcelain (Chiang 1999: 85). The Spanish trade in Taiwan frequently faced the
problem of lacking funds. It had something to do with the conditions of the relief
fleets visiting Taiwan in each year. If the Spaniard in Taiwan could not get enough
silver for buying merchandises, the Chinese merchants could not but ship back their
cargos and suffered the loss (Mateo et al. 2001: 258, 2003: 332).
The strongholds that Spaniard set in northern Taiwan, from the beginning to the
end, were mainly for military defense, and never became the transit station in a large
scale as the Dutch did even though there are some relics that clearly reveal the ceramic
trade by Spaniard in northern Taiwan in !rst half of the seventeenth century. For
instance, TheKraakblueandwhiteporcelain plateswhichwerefoundinthevicinityof
the fort Santo Domingo, Tamsui (!!", !!), were the typical Chinese export
wares (Fig. 8.3-2; Tu 2007: 32–34), and Similar wares could be found in Hatcher
shipwreck which sank approximately in 1643 (Sheaf and Kilburn 1988: 47). After the