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- Title:
- 50 Years of Feeding (Part A)
- Description:
- For Spain, Legaspi founded Cebu in 1565 and Manila in 1571. All land with its residents became the King’s. His Majesty decided how to make lands productive and useful. How were the colonials to be fed? Did it affect Indios? Sources of government income included among others food production. One could work and be paid currency so a person could buy food. Simplified, colonial earnings came from: products of encomiendas (estates) around the islands given to Spaniards who fought for the Crown; yearly tributes (taxes) from natives (men); yearly business permits and taxes from Chinese overseas workers and their imports; taxes on goods sold by Spanish traders; annual royal subsidies that arrived when a galleon returned from Mexico. When the latter did not arrive, the colony could not pay its officials, contributions to religious orders, salaries and food of hired natives, salaries of Spanish soldiers and sailors, purchases of food for other government hires and stocking military warehouses. A galleon could be taken by pirates, crash on shoals or in a storm. The government’s economy was unsteady even after 50 years of settlement. While there were some rich Spanish traders who guarded their gains smartly, many colonials learned to live on credit, promising to pay when the annual government fund and sales of exports came and re-booted the economy. Hispanic residents averaging from 1,000 to 2,000 all over the islands were outnumbered by Chinese: 1,000 in 1586; 24,000 in 1597; 15,000 in 1622. Medina notes that Chinese food sellers extended credit to broke colonials. Soldiers on the galleon often were not to be paid the balance of their salary till they returned to Mexico.
- Subjects:
- Food production Colonial earnings Economy
- Exhibition:
- Juan Medina 50
- Source:
- Acapulco, 1628. It is where the galleon from Manila anchored in Mexico. Adrian Boot artist; lithography by Ruffoni. Benson Latin American Collection at University of Texas, Austin. es.m. Wikipedia.org.
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "50 Years of Feeding (Part A)", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll108.html
Rights
- Rights:
- public domain