The three levels of the triangular trade in the Pacific, 1565-1634

Abstract

Is analyzed the exchange circuit known as "triangular trade", which operated in the Pacific basin between the ports of Manila, Acapulco and El Callao. Although this circulation initially favored the consolidation of the main colonies of Spain in America and Asia, the Hispanic monarchy soon began to resent the economic integration of these possessions since it stopped receiving the tax revenues expected from transpacific trade. The main financiers of the Hispanic imperial policy were also harmed because the massive arrival of Chinese manufactures to the American market violated the supposed monopoly that European products that arrived by the Atlantic route had. The opposed interests of the actors involved are examined, such as colonial merchants, American authorities and imperial planners.