Urdaneta finds the return route across the Pacific
Andrés de Urdaneta, sailing from the Philippines, took his ship far north to about the latitude of the westerlies before turning east, and made the American coast — the tornaviaje, the return voyage, which had defeated every previous attempt. Westward across the Pacific had been possible since Magellan; it was worthless commercially without a way back. This single passage converted a one-way exploration into a trade route and created the Manila galleon, which then ran on essentially the track Urdaneta established for two hundred and fifty years.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- The Manila galleon (Nao de China) · trade route · Pacific Ocean — Manila to Acapulco · not located
- Acapulco · port · Mexico
- The Atlantic wind and current system · natural phenomenon · Atlantic Ocean, both hemispheres · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
The Manila Galleon
The standard narrative history of the transpacific galleon trade: its route, its cargoes, its termini at Manila and Acapulco and its ending in 1815. V55 verification basis: NOT consulted in this session. Schurz remains the reference work but is now over eighty years old, and its figures have been revised by later scholarship; a curator should treat it as the frame and check quantities elsewhere.
E. P. Dutton · 1939 · Partly verified
William Lytle Schurz, The Manila Galleon (New York, 1939)
Recorded on The Manila galleon (Nao de China)
- Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas
- Urdaneta finds the return route across the Pacific
- Manila is founded as the eastern terminus
- The last Manila galleon sails
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- The last Manila galleon sails · 1815
- Manila is founded as the eastern terminus · 1571
- Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas · 1492-10-12