Chinese Company, Acapulco Militia Regiment

[blackjohn]

While at lunch the other day I was reading Pirates of New Spain, 1572-1742. The intro is about the geography, and settlements. I thought the description of Acapulco was interesting. Then I came across this!!!

"In the early 18th century there was also a civilian militia composed of all able-bodied Negroes, mulattoes, and Chinese, divided along racial lines into three companies."

Anyone here have any more info on these guys?

[Longarm]

Now this is new. I've never even heard that there were Chinese anywhere in the area, let alone enough to fill out a militia company. I bet they had an interesting story on how they got there. From what little I know the Chinese stuck close to home with the exception of one admiral and a great fleet I saw on the history channel once. I don't think he made it to Acapulco though?

[PyratePhil]

This from a quick Google...

"Many of the one and a half million residents of modern Acapulco do not realize that the Aztecs also called the area "Acapulco," which meant "place of dense reeds" in their Nahuatl language. But it was an old place long before being discovered by the Aztecs. Recently discovered artifacts indicate some 2,500 years of human occupation. In 1528 Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, occupied Acapulco for the purpose of building ships there with which to find a route to China. Eventually, many voyages of discovery set sail from Acapulco for Peru, the Gulf of California and to Asia, but none returned from across the Pacific until Father Andrés Urdanenta, in his ship loaded with Chinese treasures, reached Acapulco in 1565.

San Diego Fort From 1565 on, for more than 200 years, a special yearly trading ship, the Manila Galleon (called by English and Dutch privateers the Black Ship), set sail from Acapulco to the Orient. Many a Manila Galleon limped into Acapulco with only half the original crew still alive …but what a fiesta followed! The return of the Manila Galleon sparked an annual merchant fair, swelling Acapulco's population with traders jostling to bargain for the shiny trove of silks, porcelain, ivory and lacquer ware.

These yearly treasures soon attracted marauders to Acapulco, so the Spaniards fortified their seacoast bastion. A Dutch fleet invaded Acapulco in 1615 and destroyed the Fort and much of the town, before being driven off. In 1617 the Spanish rebuilt their fort, which they christened Fuerte San Diego. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1776, the fort was rebuilt, and the massive five-pointed maze of moats, walls and battlements was completed in 1783. Fort San Diego still sits atop its bayside hill. Mexico's War of Independence (1819-21) stopped the Black Ship forever, sending Acapulco into a century-long slumber."

[Longarm]

So the Chinese most likely were crewmen or their decendents from the Manilla Galleon. And I don't doubt slavery had something to do with there being there as well. Well it makes more sense then on a long trip such as that crewmen would need to be replaced and from the losses getting there. Then knowing how hard the return trip was going to be a captain would be a fool not to stock up on crew for journy back.