Most recent:

“Long View: The 16th-Century Trade Route That Brought China to Mexico” in Americas Quarterly, April 2019

Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales:  The Middle Kingdom is hardly new to Latin America. One trade route dates back to the 16th century, and had major historical implications.

“When China wanted silver from the rest of the world”: an illustrated write-up in the South China Morning Post, 6 February 2019

A route across the Pacific in the 16th century was a catalyst for the integration of the planet. The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565-1815 reveals how the Ruta de la Plata connected China with Spanish America, furthering economic and cultural exchange and building the foundations for the first global currency.

“Reflections on the Silver Way and the Silk Road” by Jing Wang in the Asian Review of Books, 18 October 2018

Since the Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed to revive the Silk Road in 2013, the term have become almost ubiquitous, whether used in a celebratory or derogative way. The topics range from trade agreements, financial loans, military bases, soft-power expansion, and cultural exchanges in the age of globalization.

The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565–1815 is thus timely. It offers contemporary readers an alternative way to understand global connections within the Global South. Focusing on the historical relationship between China and Spanish America, authors Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales shed light on a history largely understudied but instrumental to the formation of global networks.

“El Galeón de Manila creó un mundo globalizado con China en el centro” por Gaspar Ruiz-Canela (EFE), en La Vanguardia, 8 octubre 2018

[Reportaje de la conferencia “Transpacific Connectivity Through the Manila Galleon: Southeast Asia, the Pacific Coast of the Americas and Spain”, Bangkok 8 octubre] El experto español Juan José Morales citó las palabras del escritor hispano-incaico Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, quien en el siglo XVI ya defendía que no había dos mundos, sino uno, al tiempo que recordó que las especias como la pimienta, el clavo o la nuez moscada de la actual Indonesia eran codiciadas por las cortes europeas.

“The Silver Way o el comienzo de la globalización” por Francisco Martínez Boluda en Valencia Plaza, 25 March 2018

Precisamente, dentro de esos acontecimientos históricos que se han obviado o a los que no se les ha dado la relevancia que deberían haber tenido, se incardina lo que se llamó la Nao de China o el Pabellón de Manila, o la más reciente denominación de la ruta de la plata acuñada por Juan José Morales y Peter Gordon en su imprescindible The Silver Way.

“How China and Hong Kong’s currencies were shaped by Spanish, Mexican silver dollars” in the South China Morning Post, 7 February 2018

Stuart Heaver: Many modern East Asian currencies have roots in Ming dynasty trade and Chinese traders’ faith in the Mexican silver dollar. Attempts to dislodge it, such as the Hong Kong-minted silver British dollar, were not always successful.

“By far the bulk of the world’s silver production was from Spanish America and at least a third of that amount went to China,” says Peter Gordon, co-author of The Silver Way.

Gordon’s book, co-written by Juan José Morales, explains how silver Spanish … dollars minted in Mexico flooded into China via Manila in the 16th century, brought in on huge galleons. Then, as now, China was by far the biggest regional economy, making the hazardous transpacific voyage from the Mexican port of Acapulco highly lucrative.

“La Ruta de la Plata y la primera globalización”: Peter Gordon y Juan José Morales en Política Exterior, enero-febrero 2018

Durante 250 años el Galeón de Manila unió Asia y América a través de una red transpacífica. La narrativa anglosajona olvida el papel de China y la América española en la globalización.

“When the Dollar Spoke Spanish”: Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales in AsiaGlobal Online, 25 January 2018

However problematical “global currency” may be to define, we in general know it when we use it. That currency today is the US dollar, but it was preceded in this role by the Spanish and Mexican dollars of the 18th and 19th centuries, the former more accurately called the real de a ocho, or peso. These silver coins were accepted across the world, most notably in China, where they formed not just an important part of the money supply but also a reference against which other forms of exchange, including domestic Chinese taels, were measured.

Dos comentarios de José Manuel Suárez-Mier en El Excelsior / Dinero en Imagen

“La primera globalización”, 17 November

Las varias reuniones en la cumbre celebradas hace unos días en Asia para avanzar esfuerzos de integración comercial coincidieron con la presentación del pequeño libro El camino de la plata: China, la América española y el nacimiento de la globalización 1565-1815, en el que México juega el papel estelar…

El libro en cuestión resalta que “por dos siglos México fue el centro del mundo, el lugar donde se encontraban Asia, Europa y América, y donde la gente se mezclaba e intercambiaba todo, desde genes hasta textiles.” La Ciudad de México era, por mucho, la urbe más cosmopolita y refinada de la tierra, “un sitio en el que encontraban la gente, las mercancías y las ideas, con el dinero como un acelerador esencial.”

¿El gran ausente de esta historia? Estados Unidos que o no existía o no contaba. ¿Nos veremos forzados a intentar recrear ese mundo ahora?

“La unión monetaria original”, 24 November

Siguiendo el relato iniciado la semana pasada sobre la exitosa alianza comercial que bajo la sombra de la bandera española se dio en el siglo XVI entre Asia, Europa y América, hoy me referiré al área monetaria común que surgió con las piezas de plata acuñadas en México como la moneda universal de ese vasto mercado…

Quizá haya que proponer complementar la reciente iniciativa del presidente Xi de China de restablecer una ruta marítima del camino de la seda hacia Europa, con la de restaurar el área comercial y monetaria común entre Asia y la América hispana que tanto éxito tuvo por tanto tiempo.

“China’s Latin America ambitions highlight ‘silver way’ strategy” in Nikkei Asia Review, 8 November 2017

Peter Gordon: Washington should brace for Beijing’s Belt and Road in its own ‘backyard’

“The Modern Silver Way”, Research from Dasym, 13 September 2017

The history between East Asia and Latin America is rich but often forgotten. The Silver Way marked the emergence of the global economy, with trade routes between Manila, Acapulco, and Seville. While China’s westward Silk Road is grabbing headlines, it aims to revive another ancient route to the East. Today, we are witnessing the rebirth of the Modern Silver Way.

From the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs: “Book Points to Manila Galleon Trade as Birth of Globalization”, 13 September 2017.

Spain Arts and Culture, in collaboration with the Mexican Cultural Institute and the Philippine Embassy, hosted a discussion centered on the book, “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the birth of globalization, 1565 – 1815” at the Former Residence of the Ambassador of Spain on September 07. Leading the panel was the co-author of the book, Peter Gordon, Inter-American Dialogue Director of the China and Latin America Program Margaret Myers, and Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor Tatiana Seijas.

“Globalization started with Asia-Spanish America trade links, says DC panel”, Inquirer (Philippines), 12 September 2017

A discussion centered on a book that traces the trade route that linked Spanish America, China and the Philippines was jointly hosted Spain Arts and Culture, the Mexican Cultural Institute and the Philippine Embassy on September 7 at the former residence of the Ambassador of Spain.

Leading the panel was the co-author of The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the birth of globalization, 1565 – 1815, Peter Gordon, Inter-American Dialogue Director of the China and Latin America Program Margaret Myers, and Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor Tatiana Seijas.

¿Dónde empieza el extranjero?, El Mundo, 11 September 2017

Pablo Pardo: La idea central de The Silver Way es que la globalización es un invento chino-español en torno a esos galeones de Manila, que llevaban textiles y especias de Asia a México y plata a China. Asia producía y Occidente (o sea, España) aportaba el capital (la plata).

“El Galeón de Manila como paradigma de la relación entre China y Latinoamérica” (EFE), La Vanguardia, El Confidential, El Periódico, 9 September 2017

El Galeón de Manila fue en el siglo XVI la primera ruta comercial masiva entre Asia y América y, aunque cayó en desuso y en el olvido doscientos años después, hoy sirve como ejemplo del nuevo rol de China en Latinoamérica, en un mundo globalizado en el que Estados Unidos ya no dicta las condiciones. Así lo defiende el estadounidense afincado en Hong Kong Peter Gordon, que junto al español Juan José Morales ha escrito “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalization 1565-1815” (2017), un libro que ha rebautizado el Galeón de Manila como “la Ruta de la Plata”.

“Museo del Galeon to relive romance of the high seas”, Inquirer (Philippines), 4 September 2017

Gordon and Morales call the galleons built by Filipinos and from local materials “a precursor of today’s world-leading Asian shipyards.” The galleons were locally designed and made from locally supplied materials, constructed by local labor augmented by Chinese hands. “The galleons’ reputation for durability and sturdiness was built upon the local hardwoods: the ships were relatively impervious to both cannonfire and shiprot.”

Excerpts:

Excerpt: “Why the 16th century still matters: China, Spanish America and globalization” in the Asian Review of Books, 20 January 2017

Stories are best started at the beginning. This one – the story of our increasingly integrated world – begins in the Pacific around 1565 and not, as conventional wisdom often has it, in the Western Europe of the mid-eighteenth century.

Excerpt: “How China played a part in first wave of globalisation, in the 16th century”, South China Morning Post, 12 January 2017

Globalisation is nothing new, say Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales in a book, The Silver Way, an excerpt from which reveals how a Pacific route to and from Spanish America made China an economic powerhouse 400 years ago

Reviews, articles and interviews:

“Reflections on the Silver Way and the Silk Road” by Jing Wang in the Asian Review of Books, 18 October 2018

Since the Chinese President Xi Jinping first proposed to revive the Silk Road in 2013, the term have become almost ubiquitous, whether used in a celebratory or derogative way. The topics range from trade agreements, financial loans, military bases, soft-power expansion, and cultural exchanges in the age of globalization.

The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565–1815 is thus timely. It offers contemporary readers an alternative way to understand global connections within the Global South. Focusing on the historical relationship between China and Spanish America, authors Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales shed light on a history largely understudied but instrumental to the formation of global networks.

“El Galeón de Manila creó un mundo globalizado con China en el centro” por Gaspar Ruiz-Canela (EFE), en La Vanguardia, 8 octubre 2018

[Reportaje de la conferencia “Transpacific Connectivity Through the Manila Galleon: Southeast Asia, the Pacific Coast of the Americas and Spain”, Bangkok 8 octubre] El experto español Juan José Morales citó las palabras del escritor hispano-incaico Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, quien en el siglo XVI ya defendía que no había dos mundos, sino uno, al tiempo que recordó que las especias como la pimienta, el clavo o la nuez moscada de la actual Indonesia eran codiciadas por las cortes europeas.

“The Silver Way o el comienzo de la globalización” por Francisco Martínez Boluda en Valencia Plaza, 25 March 2018

Precisamente, dentro de esos acontecimientos históricos que se han obviado o a los que no se les ha dado la relevancia que deberían haber tenido, se incardina lo que se llamó la Nao de China o el Pabellón de Manila, o la más reciente denominación de la ruta de la plata acuñada por Juan José Morales y Peter Gordon en su imprescindible The Silver Way.

“How China and Hong Kong’s currencies were shaped by Spanish, Mexican silver dollars” in the South China Morning Post, 7 February 2018

Stuart Heaver: Many modern East Asian currencies have roots in Ming dynasty trade and Chinese traders’ faith in the Mexican silver dollar. Attempts to dislodge it, such as the Hong Kong-minted silver British dollar, were not always successful.

“By far the bulk of the world’s silver production was from Spanish America and at least a third of that amount went to China,” says Peter Gordon, co-author of The Silver Way.

Gordon’s book, co-written by Juan José Morales, explains how silver Spanish … dollars minted in Mexico flooded into China via Manila in the 16th century, brought in on huge galleons. Then, as now, China was by far the biggest regional economy, making the hazardous transpacific voyage from the Mexican port of Acapulco highly lucrative.

Dos comentarios de José Manuel Suárez-Mier en El Excelsior / Dinero en Imagen

“La primera globalización”, 17 November

Las varias reuniones en la cumbre celebradas hace unos días en Asia para avanzar esfuerzos de integración comercial coincidieron con la presentación del pequeño libro El camino de la plata: China, la América española y el nacimiento de la globalización 1565-1815, en el que México juega el papel estelar…

El libro en cuestión resalta que “por dos siglos México fue el centro del mundo, el lugar donde se encontraban Asia, Europa y América, y donde la gente se mezclaba e intercambiaba todo, desde genes hasta textiles.” La Ciudad de México era, por mucho, la urbe más cosmopolita y refinada de la tierra, “un sitio en el que encontraban la gente, las mercancías y las ideas, con el dinero como un acelerador esencial.”

¿El gran ausente de esta historia? Estados Unidos que o no existía o no contaba. ¿Nos veremos forzados a intentar recrear ese mundo ahora?

“La unión monetaria original”, 24 November

Siguiendo el relato iniciado la semana pasada sobre la exitosa alianza comercial que bajo la sombra de la bandera española se dio en el siglo XVI entre Asia, Europa y América, hoy me referiré al área monetaria común que surgió con las piezas de plata acuñadas en México como la moneda universal de ese vasto mercado…

Quizá haya que proponer complementar la reciente iniciativa del presidente Xi de China de restablecer una ruta marítima del camino de la seda hacia Europa, con la de restaurar el área comercial y monetaria común entre Asia y la América hispana que tanto éxito tuvo por tanto tiempo.

“The Modern Silver Way”, Research from Dasym, 13 September 2017.

The history between East Asia and Latin America is rich but often forgotten. The Silver Way marked the emergence of the global economy, with trade routes between Manila, Acapulco, and Seville. While China’s westward Silk Road is grabbing headlines, it aims to revive another ancient route to the East. Today, we are witnessing the rebirth of the Modern Silver Way.

“Globalization started with Asia-Spanish America trade links, says DC panel”, Inquirer (Philippines), 12 September 2017

A discussion centered on a book that traces the trade route that linked Spanish America, China and the Philippines was jointly hosted Spain Arts and Culture, the Mexican Cultural Institute and the Philippine Embassy on September 7 at the former residence of the Ambassador of Spain.

Leading the panel was the co-author of The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the birth of globalization, 1565 – 1815, Peter Gordon, Inter-American Dialogue Director of the China and Latin America Program Margaret Myers, and Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor Tatiana Seijas.

¿Dónde empieza el extranjero?, El Mundo, 11 September 2017

Pablo Pardo: La idea central de The Silver Way es que la globalización es un invento chino-español en torno a esos galeones de Manila, que llevaban textiles y especias de Asia a México y plata a China. Asia producía y Occidente (o sea, España) aportaba el capital (la plata).

“El Galeón de Manila como paradigma de la relación entre China y Latinoamérica” (EFE), La Vanguardia, El Confidential, El Periódico, 9 September 2017

El Galeón de Manila fue en el siglo XVI la primera ruta comercial masiva entre Asia y América y, aunque cayó en desuso y en el olvido doscientos años después, hoy sirve como ejemplo del nuevo rol de China en Latinoamérica, en un mundo globalizado en el que Estados Unidos ya no dicta las condiciones. Así lo defiende el estadounidense afincado en Hong Kong Peter Gordon, que junto al español Juan José Morales ha escrito “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalization 1565-1815” (2017), un libro que ha rebautizado el Galeón de Manila como “la Ruta de la Plata”.

“Museo del Galeon to relive romance of the high seas”, Inquirer (Philippines), 4 September 2017

Gordon and Morales call the galleons built by Filipinos and from local materials “a precursor of today’s world-leading Asian shipyards.” The galleons were locally designed and made from locally supplied materials, constructed by local labor augmented by Chinese hands. “The galleons’ reputation for durability and sturdiness was built upon the local hardwoods: the ships were relatively impervious to both cannonfire and shiprot.”

“The Silver Way: Travel-writing Across the Pacific of the 16th-19th Centuries” at the Hong Kong Book Fair, video of the complete presentation.

Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales present the “Silver Way” interspersed with readings of primary sources from the 16th to 19th centuries.

Review in Bookish.asia, 12 July 2017

John Grant Ross: This small book – a Penguin Special weighing in at a hundred pages – packs a punch, and though no more than an afternoon’s easy reading, it may well alter the way you think about the history of China and globalization. Despite its short format and readability, The Silver Way is a serious production with illustrations, footnotes, and an extensive bibliography. It’s a fascinating book from two knowledgeable writers.

“Book Review: The Silver Way” in City Weekend (Beijing), 5 June 2017

Lara Ek: The book is a fast, engaging read, rife with information about an often-skipped part of history. Its richness comes from the fascinating examples that Morales and Gordon use to evidence the importance of the Silver Way… Fortunately, Gordon and Morales pare down the overwhelming detail into a streamlined explanation—though not without dipping into some of the more unusual items of trade, including one particularly striking story of an entrepreneur of wooden noses… The Silver Way accomplishes well what it sets out to be: a concise, carefully researched slice of history, densely packed with clear stories and well-researched sources. It is an excellent little volume to add to your knowledge base, and which, in the end, may induce you to visit more museums than you had originally intended.

“China y la América Española: historia de una globalización” in El País, 17 June 2017

Una China protagonista, dos potencias enigmáticas la una para la otra, una relación donde el pragmatismo se antepone a la rivalidad y los intereses comerciales priman sobre los instintos bélicos: la relación entre Asia y Occidente en el siglo XVII, según Morales y Gordon. En el siglo XXI, ¿será la misma?

“The Silver Way: How Mexican Silver Coins Paved a 16th-Century Sea Route to China” in Caixin, 16 June 2017

Poornima Weerasekara: Many Americans think Chinese immigration to the continent started with their country’s railroad projects in the 19th century. But long before San Francisco’s fabled Chinatown, 16th-century Mexico City was home to a sizable Chinese population, and a Pacific trade route to and from Spanish America had turned China into the “factory of the world” 400 years ago.

“La Ruta de la Plata” and interview with Juan José Morales on CGTN en español

 

Expertos: Comercio entre China y mundo hispano fue testigo del nacimiento de la globalización in Xinhua, 10 June 2017

Durante una mesa redonda celebrada por el Instituto Cervantes, Gordon afirmó que “la Ruta de la Plata es del mundo hispano, de China y de Asia”, y añadió que hay muchos estudios en la historia sobre esta ruta, que tiene diferentes nombres, pero cree que el producto más importante en esta vía era la plata, y por eso la bautizó “la Ruta de la Plata”.

“What China’s History Says About Its Role in Globalization” in That’s Beijing, 17 May 2017

Jonathan Chatwin: Four hundred years ago, a new trading route linking Latin America with Asia put China at the heart of a globalizing world. So why do we see China as a historical recluse, asks Dr. Jonathan Chatwin, and what does it mean for today’s diplomacy?

Juan José Morales interviewed in Hong Kong Trade Development’s Council’s publication Hong Kong Means Business, 4 May 2017

A lawyer and management consultant from Spain, Mr Morales is former President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and has written extensively about Sino-Spanish relations. In his book, Mr Morales says Hong Kong‘s talent infrastructure makes it well-placed to play a role in reviving global trade.

“La ruta de la plata o cómo el antiguo dólar mexicano cambió el mundo” in Sputnik Mundo, 2 May 2017

Como se puede ver, la América española ha tenido un gran impacto no solo en la cultura mundial, sino también en el proceso de globalización.

The Silver Way Explains How the Old Mexican Dollar Changed the World” a review in The National Interest, 30 April 2017:

Salvatore Babones: The Silver Way is a rollickingly fun read. Fans of forgotten history will rejoice to see the story of the Manila Galleon trade told in such an accessible format. Monetary historians and globalization experts have long been fascinated by the topic, and hard-to-find academic articles on the subject circulate among specialists as a kind of crypto-currency of the intellectual illuminati. Now everyone can enjoy the tale. Popular history at its best.

“Penguin book casts new spotlight on the Manila Galleon Trade”, review in the Philippine Enquirer, 1 May 2017:

Benito Legarda Jr: The book concludes that “the story of one increasingly integrated world begins in the Pacific around 1565 and not in the Western Europe of the mid-18th century.” This means Urdaneta and Manila were at the beginning of modern world economic trends—something for Filipino historians to ponder.

“Ad Sølvvejen til Asiens markeder” (in Danish) Weekendavisen 21 April 2017

Peter Harmsen: People of the ocean. Has the Spanish empire’s contribution to the world of today been underestimated? Yes, two authors say to a new book about the lively shipping and trade across the Pacific several centuries ago.

“The Manila Galleon Trade: Events, effects, lessons” in the Manila Times, 3 March 2017

Ma. Isabel Ongpin: There must be a lesson to be learned from the Sinic-Spanish Manila Galleon Trade which could be applicable today for better relations in the modern world. The authors of “The Silver Way” have interesting insights and recommendations along this line.

“Globalization is as old as the Manila Galleon” in the Manila Times, 24 February 2017

Ma. Isabel Ongpin: The subject of “The Silver Way” is the more integrated, cohesive and enduring trade between Asia and Spanish America and from there to High Renaissance Europe when Spain was dominant and the Philippines was ruled by it via Mexico.

“México y China ejes de la globalización” (Notimex press agency) in Pulso Politico, 21 February 2017

Maurizio Guerrero: México y China, conectados por el comercio impulsado por España en el siglo XVI, constituyen los ejes originales de la globalización, entendida como la conexión sistemática y continua entre continentes, afirmaron Peter Gordon y Juan José Morales.

“Los ecos del Galeón de Manila en la globalización del siglo XXI” (EFE news agency) in El Confidencial, 4 February 2017

Isabel Fueyo: La ruta comercial marítima entre Asia y Latinoamérica, iniciada en 1565 por los españoles, fue la precursora de la globalización y sirve a día de hoy a potencias como China para diseñar sus planes de expansión económica.

El español Juan José Morales y el estadounidense Peter Gordon así lo defienden en un nuevo ensayo presentado esta semana en Hong Kong: “La Ruta de la Plata: China, Hispanoamérica y el nacimiento de la globalización, 1565-1815”, que reclama el valor histórico de aquella línea comercial como una de las precursoras del comercio internacional actual.

“¿Debemos a China la globalización? Así era la ruta de la plata en el SXVI” in El Mundo, 29 January 2017

El MundoIsmael Arana: Los autores Peter Gordon y Juan José Morales rebaten la narrativa histórica que encumbra a las naciones anglosajonas como artifíces del comercio internacional.

“The Manila Galleon as harbinger of globalization” in the Philippine Star, 30 January 2017

Alfred A Yuson: A fresh title in the Penguin Specials series now posits that it was the Manila Galleon that heralded globalization way back in the 16th century. “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the Birth of Globalisation, 1565–1815”, by Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales, relates how China was a principal player in this narrative. The account also gives credit to Manila as the entrepot that served as the start of the intercontinental chain of commerce.

“La ruta de la plata, la globalización del s. XVI” in La Vanguardia, 14 January 2017 (en català) [registration required]

Vanguardia1Isidre Ambrós: En su obra La ruta de la plata, Morales y Gordon subrayan la relevancia que tuvo esta vía comercial entre Hispanoamérica y Asia en el intercambio económico y cultural entre tres continentes, con una moneda estandarizada. Una actividad que marcó el inicio de la economía mundial como la entendemos actualmente.

Review in The Diplomat, 6 January 2017

“… a needed corrective to the history of globalization by giving East Asia and Spanish America their due as the originators of the global economy.”

Review in Beyond Thirty-Nine, 21 January 2017

We tend to study the story of European expansion following a Dutch and British narratives but this wonderful book forces us to put down our usual reading glasses and put on new one of a different color.

Jame diBiasio, 27 January 2017

A trade war is now in the offing. A kinetic war, although unlikely, does not feel remote or unthinkable (although neither Xi nor Trump, nor their frothy constituents, seem interested in thinking about the consequences.)

Perhaps there is another way. Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales, suggest a historical example that could prove a handy guide. Their short book, The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the birth of globalization, 1565-1815, reminds us that globalization was not invented by Britain or America. Can we return to a world in which global trade is mutually beneficial while dulling the ideology around it?

News:

From the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs: “Book Points to Manila Galleon Trade as Birth of Globalization”, 13 September 2017.

Spain Arts and Culture, in collaboration with the Mexican Cultural Institute and the Philippine Embassy, hosted a discussion centered on the book, “The Silver Way: China, Spanish America and the birth of globalization, 1565 – 1815” at the Former Residence of the Ambassador of Spain on September 07. Leading the panel was the co-author of the book, Peter Gordon, Inter-American Dialogue Director of the China and Latin America Program Margaret Myers, and Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor Tatiana Seijas.

“The Silver Way” included in Asia House’s “Literary Inspirations for 2017“:

… a cleverly and succinctly penned piece of research… [a] little book of big ideas…

Commentary:

“Long View: The 16th-Century Trade Route That Brought China to Mexico” in Americas Quarterly, April 2019

Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales:  The Middle Kingdom is hardly new to Latin America. One trade route dates back to the 16th century, and had major historical implications.

“La Ruta de la Plata y la primera globalización”: Peter Gordon y Juan José Morales en Política Exterior, enero-febreo 2018

Durante 250 años el Galeón de Manila unió Asia y América a través de una red transpacífica. La narrativa anglosajona olvida el papel de China y la América española en la globalización.

“When the Dollar Spoke Spanish”: Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales in AsiaGlobal Online, 25 January 2018

However problematical “global currency” may be to define, we in general know it when we use it. That currency today is the US dollar, but it was preceded in this role by the Spanish and Mexican dollars of the 18th and 19th centuries, the former more accurately called the real de a ocho, or peso. These silver coins were accepted across the world, most notably in China, where they formed not just an important part of the money supply but also a reference against which other forms of exchange, including domestic Chinese taels, were measured.

“China’s Latin America ambitions highlight ‘silver way’ strategy” in Nikkei Asia Review, 8 November 2017

Peter Gordon: Washington should brace for Beijing’s Belt and Road in its own ‘backyard’

“La Ruta de la Plata, el eje de cuatro continentes”, China Hoy, 8 August 2017

Un sinópsis del tema por Peter Gordon y Juan José Morales.

“The ‘Silver Way’: An Alternative to ‘Thucydides Trap'” in The Diplomat, 19 June 2017

Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales: Graham Allison’s famous formula overlooks a crucial historical example: a rising Spain meeting a powerful China.

“Follow the Money — Silk, Silver, and 16th Century-Style Globalization” in the Los Angeles Review of Books, 22 March 2017

Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales: Lost travelers, when asking for directions at a country store in the backwoods of northern New England, are likely to be told — or, at least, so goes the myth — “You can’t get there from here.” We can’t get to an understanding of China and its place in the world of the 21st century if the understanding of where we are today is determined by a historical narrative that starts in mid-18th century with the rise of Anglo-American dominance.

Video Interview in China File, 2 March 2017

“China can evoke old Latin-American ties to bypass US order” in Nikkei Asian Review, 1 February 2017

Peter Gordon: After the Silk Road, the trans-Pacific trade route sustained world economies.

“China can be at the heart of a new era of globalisation”, South China Morning Post, 2 December 2016

Juan José Morales and Peter Gordon go back in history to find thriving trade of global scope that is radically different from today’s, apart from the fabled Silk Road

Prior essays and commentary:

“China and Latin America: Back to the Future”, The Diplomat, 16 June 2015

China’s foray into Latin America builds on an extensive history

“How a historic Pacific trade route can foster better China-Latin America ties”, South China Morning Post, 1 May 2015

Germán Muñoz says as China revives Silk Road links, the 16th-century ‘Silver Way’ offers a template for enhanced multilateral cooperation, development and integration

“HK and Spain can enjoy a fruitful relationship”, China Daily, 20 April 2015

It was exactly two centuries ago that the last “Manila Galleon” sailed west from Acapulco in the then Spanish territory of “Nueva España” — “New Spain” — with a cargo of silver used in Asia and in China.

“China’s Way East: La Ruta de la Plata”, Global Asia, 27 January 2015, reprinted as “The Maritime Silk Road of the Manila Galleons”, Caixin, 7 March 2015

The commercial relationships under the trans-Pacific trade routes of the 16th to 18th centuries offer a paradigm for emerging dynamics in China’s ties to the global economy