katiecat (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} katiecat) wrote,@ 2008-07-23 11:17:00 |
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From Experimentation to Conservatism
In the 1520s and 1530s the nefarious consequences of Spain's policies were hardly glimpsed. Indeed, Carlos presided over a period of experimentation, as might be expected, given that the conquest of the Aztec Empire was an unprecedented event and that Carlos ruled a multiethnic European empire. One example of how policy was evolving was that although mercantilism usually excluded nonnationals from emigration and trade to the colonies, Carlos at first allowed all his Hapsburg subjects to come to New Spain. This permitted the Flemings, Germans, and Italians to enrich the transatlantic trade, alongside the renowned merchants of Burgos in northern Spain and the native Sevillians of Andalucia. Only under Philip II ( 1556-98) did the familiar restriction of emigration and trade to native Spaniards or those who had fulfilled onerous naturalization requirements appear. Because scholarship has focused on the late eighteenth century, this earlier international dimension is sometimes overlooked.
Imperial commercial policy rested on three pillars: the Casa de Contratación, the consulados (merchant guilds) and the convoys (groups of armed escorts and merchant vessels). Although overseas trade was restricted to Seville from 1503, and the germ of monopoly took root early, it was several decades before these institutions emerged in their mature and rigid form. The Seville large-scale traders only founded their own guild in 1543, mainly to hear lawsuits more quickly than the other courts. But the consulado was also a kind of bank, which lent money to the Crown. The Spanish government depended on the consulado to outfit the ships. The merchants' financial role was crucial.
Only men who shipped large amounts of cargo, the elite of the merchant community, could belong to the guild. Their 1556 Ordinances also excluded foreigners (who previously had been accepted), nor were Mexican-born merchants allowed. The consulado exemplified monopoly. Wealthy commercial houses of Seville and, later, Cádiz, came and went but it remained acceptable for a small group of traders to dominate trade.
In the 1520s and 1530s the nefarious consequences of Spain's policies were hardly glimpsed. Indeed, Carlos presided over a period of experimentation, as might be expected, given that the conquest of the Aztec Empire was an unprecedented event and that Carlos ruled a multiethnic European empire. One example of how policy was evolving was that although mercantilism usually excluded nonnationals from emigration and trade to the colonies, Carlos at first allowed all his Hapsburg subjects to come to New Spain. This permitted the Flemings, Germans, and Italians to enrich the transatlantic trade, alongside the renowned merchants of Burgos in northern Spain and the native Sevillians of Andalucia. Only under Philip II ( 1556-98) did the familiar restriction of emigration and trade to native Spaniards or those who had fulfilled onerous naturalization requirements appear. Because scholarship has focused on the late eighteenth century, this earlier international dimension is sometimes overlooked.
Imperial commercial policy rested on three pillars: the Casa de Contratación, the consulados (merchant guilds) and the convoys (groups of armed escorts and merchant vessels). Although overseas trade was restricted to Seville from 1503, and the germ of monopoly took root early, it was several decades before these institutions emerged in their mature and rigid form. The Seville large-scale traders only founded their own guild in 1543, mainly to hear lawsuits more quickly than the other courts. But the consulado was also a kind of bank, which lent money to the Crown. The Spanish government depended on the consulado to outfit the ships. The merchants' financial role was crucial.
Only men who shipped large amounts of cargo, the elite of the merchant community, could belong to the guild. Their 1556 Ordinances also excluded foreigners (who previously had been accepted), nor were Mexican-born merchants allowed. The consulado exemplified monopoly. Wealthy commercial houses of Seville and, later, Cádiz, came and went but it remained acceptable for a small group of traders to dominate trade.