katiecat (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} katiecat) wrote,@ 2008-07-23 11:16:00 |
 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
First Contacts
Merchants were the silent partners of the Spanish explorers. Conquistador Fernando (Hernán) Cortés' expedition to the coast of Mexico in 1519 is an excellent case in point. Merchants of Santiago de Cuba helped outfit his voyage and then awaited eagerly the pacification of the region so that they could sell their wheat flour, satins, leather, and wine and olive oil to the first settlers there. Because trade was one of the Spanish Crown's motives for backing voyages to America, it is not surprising that the first institution established to administer the Indies was the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade), founded in 1503 and abolished only in 1790. Located in Seville (until 1717 when it was moved to Cidiz), the only legal port of entry into Spain from America, the Casa regulated all aspects of trade. It inspected ships to make sure that they had the minimum tonnage required and were safe. It heard civil suits growing out of commercial disputes and some criminal suits as well, and it recommended commercial policies to the Crown. Complementing these functions, the Casa also licensed navigators and developed the first school of navigation in Europe. Since it also licensed passengers, the House of Trade was a precursor Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Another function of the House of Trade was especially important because it symbolized the distinctive commercial system that Spain imposed on New Spain. (In this essay we will speak only of New Spain but, of course, these policies were applied to all of Spain's American Empire.) This system is often called mercantilism, as contrasted with the "free-trade" that slowly emerged in Europe, the United States, and Latin America in the early nineteenth century. Mercantilism meant the use of state power to channel the raw materials and precious metals of overseas realms (later called colonies, the term which we will, for convenience, use here) exclusively to the mother country. In exchange, New Spain was to buy all its imports, manufactured goods such as textiles and hardware, paper and glass, as well as basic foodstuffs, iron, and mercury, from Spain. Enslaved Africans were purchased from Portuguese suppliers under contract to the Spanish Crown.
Merchants were the silent partners of the Spanish explorers. Conquistador Fernando (Hernán) Cortés' expedition to the coast of Mexico in 1519 is an excellent case in point. Merchants of Santiago de Cuba helped outfit his voyage and then awaited eagerly the pacification of the region so that they could sell their wheat flour, satins, leather, and wine and olive oil to the first settlers there. Because trade was one of the Spanish Crown's motives for backing voyages to America, it is not surprising that the first institution established to administer the Indies was the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade), founded in 1503 and abolished only in 1790. Located in Seville (until 1717 when it was moved to Cidiz), the only legal port of entry into Spain from America, the Casa regulated all aspects of trade. It inspected ships to make sure that they had the minimum tonnage required and were safe. It heard civil suits growing out of commercial disputes and some criminal suits as well, and it recommended commercial policies to the Crown. Complementing these functions, the Casa also licensed navigators and developed the first school of navigation in Europe. Since it also licensed passengers, the House of Trade was a precursor Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Another function of the House of Trade was especially important because it symbolized the distinctive commercial system that Spain imposed on New Spain. (In this essay we will speak only of New Spain but, of course, these policies were applied to all of Spain's American Empire.) This system is often called mercantilism, as contrasted with the "free-trade" that slowly emerged in Europe, the United States, and Latin America in the early nineteenth century. Mercantilism meant the use of state power to channel the raw materials and precious metals of overseas realms (later called colonies, the term which we will, for convenience, use here) exclusively to the mother country. In exchange, New Spain was to buy all its imports, manufactured goods such as textiles and hardware, paper and glass, as well as basic foodstuffs, iron, and mercury, from Spain. Enslaved Africans were purchased from Portuguese suppliers under contract to the Spanish Crown.