This purposeful limitation after 1593 led to the proliferation of contraband trading. Merchants in Spain found that inexpensive, high-quality merchandise from Asia competed too successfully with Spanish exports to America, and argued for severe restrictions on the volume of the trade-over the loud complaints of Mexican and Philippines advocates. Other products shipped aboard the galleons were brought from India (cottons and other fabrics) Japan (lacquerware and screens) the islands of the Indonesian archipelago (aromatic substances, pepper, cloves, nutmegs, mace) Indochina (gemstones and hard woods) and the Philippine Islands themselves (cinnamon, coconut products, beeswax, and fabrics).
Chinese merchants, eager for silver, carried to Manila fine silks, damasks and other fabrics, gemstones, finely worked gold jewelry, and porcelain. Spain was uniquely well prepared to conduct this commerce because of the convenient geographical location of Manila and America's large supply of silver. In this way the Manila galleon trade was established. In 1571, after gaining control of the Malay trading center of Manila for Spain, Miguel López De Legazpi sent two ships back to Mexico laden with Chinese silks and porcelains, to be exchanged for needed provisions. It was also notable for the enormous size of many of the galleons (up to 2,000 tons, comparable only to the largest of the Portuguese East Indiamen) and the mystique of the Asian luxuries it made available. The galleon trade was noted for the length and duration of its voyages-over 6,000 miles and six to nine months' sail from Manila to Acapulco. This trade route linked America with Asia, and more particularly, the Viceroyalty of New Spain with its farthest province, the Philippine Islands. From 1571 to 1814, the richly laden Manila galleons sailed across the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Manila in the Philippines.
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