European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies - Guampedia

Ancient Guam Era, Ancient Guam: Economics, Chamorro Culture, Civic Society, Division of Resources, Early Historic Accounts, Economic Systems, Economics and Commercial Development, European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, Our Heritage, Trade, Transportation, Technology and Communications

The Matao Iron Trade Part 3: Appropriation and Entanglement

The matao fashioned the iron they acquired from trading with visiting ship crews into traditional tools, including punches, drills, fish hooks and adze blades. The most prominently mentioned application was canoe construction, a major preoccupation of high status men. The Marianas outrigger canoe played a vital role as the integrating mechanism for the islanders’ cultural unity, connecting their tano’ tasi (land of the sea) via inter-island transportation, communication and trade.

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The Matao Iron Trade Part 2: Galleon Trading and Repatriation

Between 1565 and 1665, Guam’s southwest coast received sporadic visits from Spanish vessels, including the first wreck of a trade galleon (San Pablo, 1568), as well as the first encounters with Dutch and English mariners. However, a more significant exchange venue was established in the 30-mile wide Rota Channel to trade with the Spanish ships crossing regularly from New Spain (Mexico) to the Philippines.

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The Matao Iron Trade Part 1: Contact and Commerce

Members of the matao, the highest-ranking strata of Mariana Islands society in the 16th and 17th centuries, carried on the first sustained cultural interaction and commercial exchange between Pacific Islanders and Europeans. From Ferdinand Magellan’s 1521 visit through the establishment of the 1668 Spanish Jesuit mission, these island traders, primarily from Guam and Rota, regularly bartered food staples and craftwork for iron goods with Spanish exploration and trade vessels, Dutch expeditions and English privateers.

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e-Publications, European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, Language, Scientific Studies, Spanish Era

Joseph Paul Gaimard’s 1819 CHamoru Vocabulary

Dr. Alexander M. Kerr of the University of Guam translated Joseph Paul Gaimard’s 1819 glossary of CHamoru words assembled while he was on Guam in April 1819 as the naturalist of the French expedition about the French naval vessel Uraine. The ship, under the command of Louis Claude de Freycinet, circumnavigated the world during the years 1817 to 1820.

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Civic Society, Economics and Commercial Development, European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, Spanish Era: Economics, Spanish Era

Spanish Coinage in Guam

The early years. A method of barter was in common use by native CHamorus long before the Spaniards arrived in Guam in the 16th century. Because of this barter system and the absence of commerce, there was no need for a coinage system in Guam during the first 150 years of Spanish rule.

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Civic Society, Economics and Commercial Development, European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, Spanish Era: Economics, Spanish Era, Trade

Trepang Trade

The 19th century trepang trade was a profit-driven industry throughout the Pacific, most notably in Melanesia and the western Pacific, and lasted as a viable industry until the early 1940s. Today, it is a cottage industry in many parts of Melanesia.

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European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, Spanish Era, Trade

Treaty of Zaragoza

The Treaty of Zaragoza was ratified in 1529 between the king of Spain and Emperor Charles V, and João III of Portugal, regarding the areas of influence of both countries in Asia in general and over the Moluccas, Indonesia (known as the Spice Islands) in particular.

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European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, Spanish Era, Trade

Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas was ratified by the Crown of Castile and the King of Portugal in 1494. The treaty divided the newly discovered lands outside of Europe into two equal halves, the east side belonging to Portugal, and the west to Castile (later to become part of Spain). The Mariana Islands were on the Spanish side, thereby giving Spain the right to colonize the Marianas which they did 174 years later in 1668.

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European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, People, People and Places, Spanish Era, Trade

Pedro Sanchez Pericón

Pedro Sanchez Pericon was the captain of the Spanish galleon San Geronimo (also referred to as San Jerónimo), the ill-fated ship that began the famed Acapulco-Manila route. The treacherous voyage across the Pacific was marred by disagreements, mutiny and murder. The events that transpired aboard the San Geronimo illustrate the difficulties faced by 16th century mariners on their passage between Acapulco and Manila.

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European Exploration, Trade and Scientific Studies, Historic Eras of Guam, People, People and Places, Spanish Era, Trade

Luís de Torres

Guam of the late-18th century only had a population of about 2,000. The CHamoru people were in a state of recovery following many years of the ravages of disease and war.

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