In Manila, pieces of eight were exchanged, usually with Chinese merchants, for silk and spices, ivory, lacquer and, above all, porcelain. The arrival of this Spanish-American silver destabilised ...

Loaded with treasures – bullion, dyestuffs, tobacco and other treasures – from the New World, a fleet of 11 vessels, named for the Spanish word plata, or 'silver', set sail ... them approximately ...

In Manila, pieces of eight were exchanged, usually with Chinese merchants, for silk and spices, ivory, lacquer and, above all, porcelain. The arrival of this Spanish-American silver destabilised ...