In 1521, the intrepid Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed in the Philippines; soon disputes followed whether these islands fell within the Spanish or the Portuguese demarcation line according to the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494).  In 1559, after three exploratory expeditions to the islands to press Spain’s claim, Philip II ordered the viceroy of Mexico (New Spain) in the Americas to make plans for the permanent occupation of the islands that now bore his name.  In 1564, under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, who had spent thirty-four years in Mexico, practically his entire life, and thus a first-generation “American,” four hundred men and four vessels set sail for Luzon, the big island. The pilot was the seasoned navigator and Augustinian monk Fray Andrés de Urdaneta.  (Cushner, pp. 45-70).

Upon their arrival, Legazpi and his entourage were greeted by 150 seasoned Hokkien junk traders, in addition to multitudes of natives that the Mexicanos (Mexicans) quickly named “indios,” (Indians/Natives) a not surprising choice of word given their already extensive experience with native peoples in Mexico.  Shortly after, Legazpi made plans for a return voyage, appointing Urdaneta to take the San Pedro and find a way directly across the Pacific to Mexico. Departing with half the original crew on June 1, 1565 and laden with some goods bought from the Hokkien traders, Urdaneta arrived in Acapulco, Mexico, on October 8.  From Cebu Island, Urdaneta had sailed north, almost to the coast of Japan.  Taking advantage of the northeast trade winds, he arrived in California and from there followed the coast south to Acapulco, thus becoming the first captain to sail round trip across the Pacific, establishing the first and longest stable trans-Pacific route.  Upon arrival in Mexico, Urdaneta drew a detailed map with all the winds and navigation tracks, islands and bays; it became the guide for subsequent voyages between Mexico and the Philippines. (Cervera, pp. 2-3, 11-12)  The return voyage carried Mexican silver but not much else.  By 1572, the out-going galleons from Manila were bulging with goods from China and many other places, such as Japan, Moluccas and Malacca (then under Portuguese control and producer of cinnamon, cloves and other spices), Ceylon, Borneo, Siam, Bengal, Goa, Cochin and other kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent such as Aceh (Sumatra), Java, and Cambodia (Morga, p. 312; Salazar, no pagination, pp. 221-22 in Blair and Robertson translation; Schurz, p. 50)

As news spread in Minnan about the arrival of the Mexicans, their big galleons and the silver they brought to trade, Hokkien people began arriving in quick succession, eager to expand trade with these Mexicans.  The timing could not have been more propitious because the Ming emperor had recently relaxed strict restrictions against private junk trading, and the Chinese economy was transitioning from paper currency to silver.  What they offered the Mexican merchants was the well-established Sino-Filipino trading relationships that quickly transformed Manila into an entrepôt linking China to Mexico (Reed, pp. 26-27).  By the end of the sixteenth century, they would firmly entrench themselves as the indispensable middlemen in the new global commercial system.  
Mexican merchants connected this first trans-Pacific commerce to the trans-Atlantic trade of Spain, while the Hokkien traders linked the old and vast Indian Ocean world to the Spanish Pacific, together making galleon trade the first complete global commercial enterprise.  For the first time in world history, all inhabited landmasses (continents) in the world except for Australia were linked on a regular basis by sailing ships (Souza, p. 15). For 250 years without fail from 1565 to 1815, despite shipwrecks and pirate attacks, at least one, and up to three, galleons—soon came to be known popularly in Spanish America as não de china (China ships)—successfully made the trans-Pacific crossing.