Page 37 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

Chapter 1
Bound for America: A Historical
and Archaeological Investigation
in Yuegang (Crescent) Seaport
as the Main Origin of Galleon Cargo

Chunming Wu

Yuegang (Crescent Harbor at Chincheo or Zhangzhou, !!!!) had been the
most famous and flourishing seaport inside the territory of Ming (!) empire during
15–18th century. It was one of the important seaports as Macao in mainland China,
Keelung in Taiwan, Nagasaki in Japan, Borneo in Kalimantan, and Siam in
Thailand, connecting with the Manila seaport in Philippines where had been the key
center of the Spanish galleon trade in eastern Asia since the late 16th century.
Chinese junks from Yuegang outbounded for Manila to trade with galleon mer-
chants when Spanish stopped at Philippines islands as their commercial hub in
eastern Asia. Yuegang became one of the transiting terminals for Manila galleons
interacting with mainland of eastern Asia, having been not only the main origin and
exporting seaport of galleon cargo such as Kraak (!!!!) ceramic, silk and tea
from China, but also the main inbound port of global culture and exotic products to
China during the 16–18th century. The international trade of Yuegang seaport
greatly enriched Chinese traditional multiculturalism. The preliminary archaeo-
logical investigations at Yuegang and the adjacent oceanic region in southeast
China have shown a series of interesting cultural heritages resulting from
Yuegang-Manila sailing trade and its connection with the Spanish Manila-Acapulco
pan-Paci!c navigation.

C. Wu (&)
The Center for Maritime Archaeology, Xiamen University, Fujian, China
e-mail: wu_chunming@hotmail.com
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 3
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_1