The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55: 1620-1621; Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55: 1620-1621; Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
The following is from the Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid:
8. _Letter to Fajardo_.--"Cedulario Indico, tomo 38, folio 101,
num. 80."
9. _Memorial, y relacion para sv magestad_ (Madrid, 1621), by Hernando
de los Rios Coronel.--This is translated and synopsized from the copy
in the Library of Congress.
Appendix: Buying and Selling Prices of Oriental Products
[The first list of prices that follows is from a compilation by the
procurator of the Philippines, Martin Castanos, and is taken from a
relation of Governor Juan de Silva entitled:]
_Relation of the importance of the Filipinas and Terrenate_
The Malucas Islands yield from year to year four thousand four
hundred bars of cloves. Each bar is six hundred and forty libras. If
his Majesty would make himself master of this, as well as of the
nutmeg and mace, and establish his factories--in Yndia, in Ormuz,
[57] for the nations who come from all Asia to trade for it; and in
Lisboa, for Europa and the Yndias--it would be worth [from one year
to another?] three million seven hundred pesos at the least, as I
reckon it; because in India each libra of cloves is worth at Ormuz
one peso, and in Lisboa a greater sum, while in the West Yndias it
is worth more than two pesos. [58] Averaging them all together, it
will be equivalent to ten reals per libra, which will amount to three
million five hundred and twenty thousand pesos.... It will cost his
Majesty to buy the cloves, in cloth, silks, and other things which
the natives value, eighty thousand pesos; while the navigation and
the pay of the factors will amount to one hundred and twenty thousand,
all amounting to two hundred and thirty thousand pesos. Consequently,
there will be a clear profit on the cloves of three million two
hundred and ninety thousand pesos.
The nutmegs and mace when delivered in Europa cost the Dutch
five hundred and twenty thousand pesos annually. The purchase,
navigation, and [pay of] factors amount to one hundred and ten
thousand pesos. Consequently, the net gain on the nutmeg and mace is
four hundred and ten thousand pesos. That added to the profit of the
cloves amounts to three million seven hundred thousand pesos.
His Majesty can make a profit of two millions annually on the silks
of China in this way--that a ship of two hundred toneladas' burden go
each year with the ships from Filipinas to Nueva Espana, with these
silks, which cost the following prices.
One thousand picos of spun and raw silk of Changuei, [59] each pico
containing one hundred and thirty libras, and costing two hundred
pesos, amount to two hundred thousand pesos.
Ten thousand pieces of Canton satin, at a cost of five pesos, amount
to fifty thousand pesos.
Ten thousand pieces of damask, at four pesos, amount to forty
thousand pesos.
Twenty thousand pieces of gorgoran, at a cost of one and one-half
pesos, amount to thirty thousand pesos.
Thirty thousand varas of velvet in colors, at one-half peso, amount
to fifteen thousand pesos.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account