katiecat (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} katiecat) wrote,@ 2008-07-23 11:16:00 |
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Two Perspectives on the Hapsburg Economy
We should appreciate from the start that one dynasty, which governed the Spanish Empire from 1521 to 1700, presided over dramatically different cycles of commerce. "Hapsburg" refers to the Austrian royal house from which Carlos I of Spain ( 1516-56), who soon also became Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, descended. Hapsburg American trade began with New Spain's first transcultural encounter in 1517, when Spanish explorers coming from Cuba bartered with the Maya in Yucatán. It continued from the 1530s to 1550, the first era of expansion, following the discovery of the first rich silver mines. It reached its apogee from 1592 to the 1630s. This was the century or so of Hapsburg commercial glory. But dynamism was followed by a reversal. From the 1640s to the 1660s there were three decades of contraction. While in the 1620s 1,363 ships filled the fleets, in the 1640s there were only 722. Yet, the end of the Hapsburg period did see a modest economic revival from the 1670s to 1700 and spasmodic efforts to remedy its political deficiencies.
However, the imperial chronology of trade is not the only one we should employ. The bustle of Indian markets in town and countryside, and the journeys of hardy muleteers of all races along the camino real and the back roads, presented their own stages in the commercial history of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century New Spain. Scholars using Indian-language sources have found stages of development generated by native peoples. Interestingly, however, the turning points in both local and imperial development occurred at similar times. Many characteristics of the Indian communities of central Mexico were preserved during the years to 1550. For example, they owed labor duty to only one resident Spaniard and were governed in much of daily life by their local lords. From the 1550s to about 1640, however, Indian villages became more Hispanicized, with contacts with more Spanish employers and the adoption of Spanish town councils. The cultural synthesis was most extensive after 1640. In both cases the mid-sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries constituted moments of transition in the evolution of colonial society.
We should appreciate from the start that one dynasty, which governed the Spanish Empire from 1521 to 1700, presided over dramatically different cycles of commerce. "Hapsburg" refers to the Austrian royal house from which Carlos I of Spain ( 1516-56), who soon also became Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, descended. Hapsburg American trade began with New Spain's first transcultural encounter in 1517, when Spanish explorers coming from Cuba bartered with the Maya in Yucatán. It continued from the 1530s to 1550, the first era of expansion, following the discovery of the first rich silver mines. It reached its apogee from 1592 to the 1630s. This was the century or so of Hapsburg commercial glory. But dynamism was followed by a reversal. From the 1640s to the 1660s there were three decades of contraction. While in the 1620s 1,363 ships filled the fleets, in the 1640s there were only 722. Yet, the end of the Hapsburg period did see a modest economic revival from the 1670s to 1700 and spasmodic efforts to remedy its political deficiencies.
However, the imperial chronology of trade is not the only one we should employ. The bustle of Indian markets in town and countryside, and the journeys of hardy muleteers of all races along the camino real and the back roads, presented their own stages in the commercial history of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century New Spain. Scholars using Indian-language sources have found stages of development generated by native peoples. Interestingly, however, the turning points in both local and imperial development occurred at similar times. Many characteristics of the Indian communities of central Mexico were preserved during the years to 1550. For example, they owed labor duty to only one resident Spaniard and were governed in much of daily life by their local lords. From the 1550s to about 1640, however, Indian villages became more Hispanicized, with contacts with more Spanish employers and the adoption of Spanish town councils. The cultural synthesis was most extensive after 1640. In both cases the mid-sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries constituted moments of transition in the evolution of colonial society.