The Spanish Galleon "Andalucia" Arrives with Typhoon

Saturday September 18, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.

With a typhoon beginning to batter the east coast, something that is being overshadowed or outclassed is the arrival of the Spanish Galleon "Andalucia," a replica of the 17th century ships that once ran the famous "Manila to Acapulco" trade route for over 250 years. This ship sailed out of Seville, Spain earlier in the summer and was present at the Shanghai World Expo as well as doing some PR touring for Spain. I was hoping to go see this sea-worthy replica on Monday in Ilan, but the typhoon has forced it to seek the port of Keelung--a much more protected port--in the storm.

Ironically, the city of Keelung was too cheap to welcome this link to the past trade that made Taiwan famous and led to its colonization by the Dutch and the Spanish. The back story is how Ilan stepped up to take up the slack and finance its welcome. Let us hope that Ilan gets credit for its invite and that the media give better coverage to an interesting and vital part of Taiwan's past.