CFP: Archaeology of the Seaports of Manila Galleon and the History of Early Maritime Globalization

Conference Announcement
Calling for papers of the international conference on “Archaeology of the Seaports of Manila Galleon and the History of Early Maritime Globalization”
July 21–23, 2017，Amoy, Fujian, China

During 16-19 century, the Spanish navigators established and operated the Manila Galleon maritime route which connected eastern Asia and New Spain in the American continent. The galleons sailed via the hub seaports and trade centers of Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco in Mexico, being a prosperous route for more than 200 years. This pioneering navigation of pan-Pacific regions promoted early global maritime trade and can be regarded as a new maritime Silk Road between the East and the West.

The Manila Galleon Navigation is an interesting academic theme which had been investigated and researched by multi-disciplines as archaeology, history, anthropology, marine navigation, oceanology, and etc. in last half century. The seaport sites and shipwrecks underwater are respectively 2 important types of cultural heritage contributing to archaeological reconstruction of galleon navigation history. An international academic workshop of “Early Navigation in the Asia-Pacific Region” was carried out at Harvard University in summer of 2013. Maritime archaeologists from United States, Mexico, England, Philippine and China met to discuss the early pan-Pacific maritime trade history focusing on the perspective of shipwreck archaeology of galleons (Wu, C. editor, Early Navigation in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Maritime Archaeological Perspective, Springer Press, 2016)

A further dialogue on the galleon and related history of maritime cultural interaction between the Eastern Asia and New Spain will be carried out at Amoy on July 21-23, 2017. The meeting calls for papers focusing on the newest developments in the archaeology of the Manila Galleon connecting seaports of Manila in Philippines, Acapulco and San Blas in Mexico, Hagatna in Guans, Haicheng (Amoy), Macao in China, Nagasaki in Japan. A dozen of presentations respectively on different seaports archaeological fieldworks will be welcome. We hope these archaeological discoveries on galleon seaports will open a new window for sighting and understanding the social cultural exchange on the new maritime Silk Road of pan-Pacific region in last 500 years.

Proposed topics:

1, New archaeological discoveries of Manila Galleon Archaeology and related seaports such as Manila in Philippines, Acapulco and San Blas in Mexico, Hagatna in Guans, Haicheng (Amoy), Macao in China, Nagasaki in Japan

2, Maritime cultural heritage of harbors, historical city architecture, maritime folklore and population of different Manila Galleon related seaports.

3, Transportation between Manila Galleon related harbors, and origin of the cargo such as the kilns of the ceramic industry.

4, Trade, merchants, business organizations and navigation, related to the Manila Galleon.

Conference information:

1, Time: July 21-23, 2017

2, Place: Xiamen University, Xiamen (Amoy), Fujian, China

3, Financial support: The organizer is the Center for Maritime Archaeology of Xiamen University. It will pay the authors’ air travel to and from Xiamen, accommodations and a field trip in Xiamen, during the conference if the complete submit paper is accepted by the organizers before the conference.

4, Conference contact:

Dr. Miao Liu, Associate Professor of CMAXMU, liumiao@xmu.edu.cn