Page 266 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

Chapter 14
The Chinese Porcelain from the Port
of San Blas, Mexico

Roberto Junco Sanchez, Guadalupe Pinzón and Etsuko Miyata

This paper presents preliminary work carried out by the Subdirección de
Arqueología Subacuática of INAH (SAS-INAH), Universidad Nacional de
Antropología e História (UNAM), and Rikkyo University, to study Chinese
Porcelain from the port of San Blas in Nayarit, Mexico. An archaeological
inspection of the Port of San Blas carried out in August 2016 and 2017 by
SAS-INAH, yielded a collection of Chinese porcelain shards related to the
transpaci!c commerce. The history of San Blas in the Paci!c coast of Mexico is
interesting because of!cially it was an active and important port for just a few years
of the 18th century. Furthermore, it was also a stop for the Manila Galleon route
while navigating from Manila in the Philippines to its !nal port in Acapulco. The
kinds of porcelain recovered beyond the expected concordance with the dates of the
emplacement make it noteworthy that San Blas was active beyond the period in the
18th century when it was an of!cial Maritime Department of New Spain.

14.1 History of San Blas

Throughout the eighteenth century, various changes developed around the
maritime-commercial activities in the Paci!c area of New Spain, and especially in
the second part of the century when those changes led to include the northern littoral
R. Junco Sanchez (&)
National Institute of Anthropology and History (SAS-INAH), Mexico, Mexico
e-mail: robjunco@mac.com
G. Pinzón
Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico, Mexico
e-mail: gpinzon8@hotmail.com
E. Miyata
Keio University, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: etsukocarlos@yahoo.co.jp
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 239
C. Wu et al. (eds.), Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaports and Early Maritime
Globalization, The Archaeology of Asia-Paci!c Navigation 2,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9248-2_14