Bits of history we missed

I would love to but have no time to go for such interesting talks. What struck me about this and this is happening with increasing frequency is how ignorant I am. We read curated history made popular in paperbacks, got the broad strokes but there are many less well known and even almost forgotten facts we have missed. This is the latest of a countless stream that will come which  I had bumped into.

I quote from what NLB sent us,

From 1565 to 1815, galleon ships routinely made Trans-Pacific roundtrip voyages, carrying American silver (mined in Mexico and Peru) to Manila. There, the largely Hokkien traders and settlers in the Parián, Manila's Chinatown, acted as intermediaries in the trade of American silver for Chinese silk, porcelain, spices and other precious commodities from the larger Indian Ocean and Nanyang world.  Chinese and other Asian goods also made their way from Mexico across the Atlantic to Spain and Europe. 

Join Dr. Evelyn Hu-DeHart, Professor of History, American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, USA, as she shares the critical role of the Parián in the establishment of the global trading system.

As I think about the TPP, this is a reminder that there is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.