Exploration Period: sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Temporal Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Edward P. Von der Porten.

Identifying Manila galleon shipwrecks on the West Coast has been made possible by creating a tightly dated Chinese blue-on-white porcelain chronology.   First, the porcelains left behind at Drakes Bay, California, by Francis Drake in 1579 were separated from those of the San Agustin shipwreck of 1595 in the same location.  From the study of three additional shipwreck porcelain groups, a chronology of a key porcelain type called Kraak ware was created covering the period 1578 through 1643.   The...