Acapulco

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A deep, sheltered bay on the Pacific coast of New Spain, chosen as the American terminus of the galleon route for exactly that reason and otherwise remote from everything. For most of the year it was a small place; when the galleon came in, it held a fair that drew merchants overland from Mexico City and beyond, and the Asian goods landed there moved inland by mule train to Mexico City and on to Veracruz for the Atlantic fleet. Acapulco is the hinge where the Pacific system met the Atlantic one: cargo landed here could reach Seville, and silver from Potosí and the Mexican mines could reach Canton. The single land crossing of Mexico is what turned two separate ocean trades into one circuit around the world.