SILK & SILVER: MACAU, MANILA TRADE
71
would go to Macau, where this cargo would be traded for Chinese silk, porcelain, gold, musk, rouge, and rhubarb. The ship would stay in Macau for almost a year if it missed the southwest monsoon or the silk fairs in Canton, held in June and January, where the finer silks from central China were sold. On the next monsoon, between June and August, the Captain-major would set out for Japan. In Japan, successively at Bungo, Hizen, and Omura, and after 1571 at Nagasaki, the Chinese goods would be sold for Japanese silver, gold, copper (which was chiefly used for casting cannon in the famous foundry of Manuel Tavares Bocarro in Macau), lacquer, painted screens, swords, and other weapons, and slaves, including Korean prisoners of war. In November, the ship would catch the northeast monsoon back to Macau, where the silver acquired in Japan would be exchanged for gold, copper, ivory, pearls, and more Chinese silk. From Macau, the captain-major would return to Goa. The bulk of the cargo from Macau to Japan was at first raw silk, but woven silks and damasks were increasingly exported during the 17th century. There was generally sufficient silk left over after trading in Japan to supply India, Europe (via Goa), and Spanish America (via Manila).12
The Chinese demand for silver was, as we have seen, insatiable. A factor of the English East India Company wrote in 1636 that the Chinese, “will as soon part with their blood” as silver once they had possession of it.13 Japan possessed rich silver mines in Honshu, and the ratio of the value of silver to gold in Japan was about 12:1, approximately the same as in Europe. China, however, possessed very little silver and was willing to acquire it in exchange for gold at about 5.4:1.14 Thus, the Portuguese could trade spices for Chinese silks and porcelains, sell these to the Japanese, who prized them above their own products, together with some European goods such as firearms, in exchange for silver and, finally, exchange the silver in China for gold at a very favourable rate. The total ban imposed by China in 1557 on all direct trade with Japan, and the continuing raids by Japanese pirates on the China coast, enabled the Portuguese to gain a virtual monopoly of this Sino-Japanese trade, and the annual silver exports from Japan in the Great Ship from Amacon reached a value of about 1 million cruzados by the end of the 16th century. The restoration of strong central government in Japan under Oda Nobunaga, who occupied Kyoto in 1568, brought about a decrease in piracy and a consequent increase in the volume of
SILK & SILVER: MACAU, MANILA TRADE
71
would go to Macau, where this cargo would be trade for Chinese silk, porcelain, gold, musk, rouge and rhubarb. The ship would stay in Macau for almost a year if it missed the southwest monsoon or the silk fairs in Canton, held in June and January, where the finer silks from central China were sold. On the next monsoon, between June and August, the Captain-major would set out for Japan. In Japan, successively at Bungo, Hizen and Omura and after 1571 at Nagasaki, the Chinese goods would be sold for Japanese silver, gold, copper (which was chiefly used for casting cannon in the famous foundry of Manuel Tavares Bocarro in Macau), lacquer, painted screens, swords and other weapons, and slaves, including Korean prisoners of war. In November, the ship would catch the northeast monsoon back to Macau, where the silver acquired in Japan would be exchanged for gold, copper, ivory, pearls and more Chinese silk. From Macau the captain-major would return to Goa. The bulk of the cargo from Macau to Japan was at first raw silk, but woven silks and damasks were increasingly exported during the 17th century. There was generally sufficient silk left over after trading in Japan to supply India, Europe (via Goa) and Spanish America (via Manila),12
The Chinese demand for silver was, as we have seen, insatiable A factor of the English East India Company wrote in 1636 that the Chinese, “will as soon part with their blood” as silver once they had possession of it.13 Japan possessed rich silver mines in Honshu and the ratio of the value of silver to gold in Japan was about 12:1, approximately the same as in Europe. China, however, possessed very little silver and was willing to acquire it in exchange for gold at about 54: 1.14 Thus, the Portuguese could trade spices for Chinese silks and porcelains, sell these to the Japanese, who prized them above their own products, together with some European goods such as firearms, in exchange for silver and, finally, exchange the silver in China for gold at a very favourable rate. The total ban imposed by China in 1557 on all direct trade with Japan, and the continuing raids by Japanese pirates on the China coast, enabled the Portuguese to gain a virtual monopoly of this Sino-Japanese trade and the annual silver exports from Japan in the Great Ship from Amacon reached a value of about 1 million cruzados by the end of the 16th century. The restoration of strong central government in Japan under Oda Nobunaga, who occupied Kyoto in 1568, brought about a decrease in piracy and a consequent increase in the volume of
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