Refereed articles by Xabier Lamikiz
Revista de Historia Económica, vol. 42, no. 2 (2024), first view
This article examines the fiscal transformation of Spain’s trade with Spanish America during the ... more This article examines the fiscal transformation of Spain’s trade with Spanish America during the seventeenth century. It analyses the taxation of trade combined with the evolution of the Hispanic Monarchy’s long-term domestic debt. To this end, the author looks at the almojarifazgo de Indias (main customs duty), its juro (annuity) obligations, and the evolution of the transatlantic trade. He argues that the fall in customs revenue and the increasing non-payment of the juros issued against the almojarifazgo were neither a consequence of the alleged crisis of the Carrera de Indias nor of the higher incidence of fraud. The Crown was not interested in exerting greater fiscal pressure on the trade or fighting fraud at the customs houses of Seville and Cadiz, as the increased tax revenue would have gone entirely to service the unpaid juros. Instead, the fiscal burden shifted towards extraordinary contributions that were free of juro obligations.
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América Latina en la Historia Económica, vol. 30, no. 2 (2023), pp. 1-22.
"Sea loans and transatlantic networks in the trade between Cadiz and the South American Pacific c... more "Sea loans and transatlantic networks in the trade between Cadiz and the South American Pacific coast, 1760-1825"
Abstract: This article analyzes the financing of the Carrera de Indias in the late colonial period and differs from the historiography of commercial credit in that it adopts a transatlantic perspective. We examine the main instrument of credit employed in the Spanish Atlantic, the respondentia (sea loan). The route studied is the one that linked Cadiz with the coasts of Peru and Chile. We trace the evolution of the loans, showing their boom before the 1778 free trade and their decline after 1785. To elucidate the origin of the money and the creditors’ place of abode, we have looked into both notarial sources and business correspondence. Our research shows that Peruvians and, to a lesser degree, Chileans financed about a quarter of the capital lent in Cadiz. Transoceanic social networks played a key role in allocating and managing credit.
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Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, Oxford University Press, 2017
Basques formed a minority ethnic group whose diaspora had a significant impact on the history of ... more Basques formed a minority ethnic group whose diaspora had a significant impact on the history of colonial Latin America. Basques from the four Spanish or peninsular Basque territories—the Lordship of Vizcaya, the provinces of Álava and Guipúzcoa, and the Kingdom of Navarra—migrated to the New World in significant numbers; the French Basques were also prominent in the Atlantic, particularly in the Newfoundland fisheries.
The population density of the Basque Atlantic valleys, which was the highest of any region in Spain, was an important factor that encouraged emigration. And, in response to demographic pressure, in the second half of the 15th century most villages and towns adopted an impartible inheritance system that compelled non-inheriting offspring to seek their fortunes outside the country. Castile was the immediate choice for the Basque émigré, but after 1492 America gradually became an attractive destination. Outside their home country, their unique language and sense of collective nobility (hidalguía universal) were to become two outstanding features of Basque cultural identity.
The Basques’ share of total Spanish migration to the New World increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century. By the 18th century they were one of the largest and most influential peninsular regional groups in America. The typical Basque émigré was a young, single man aged between fifteen and thirty. In the New World they left their mark in economic activities that their countrymen had developed in their homeland for centuries: trade, navigation, shipbuilding, and mining. Furthermore, Basques’ collective nobility and limpieza de sangre (blood purity) facilitated their access to important official positions.
KEYWORDS: Basque diaspora, Atlantic diasporas, Atlantic history, transatlantic migration, Spanish America, colonial merchants, silver miners, religious congregations
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História Revista, 21:3 (2016), pp. 66-87., Dec 2016
RESUMEN: Este artículo ofrece una visión diacrónica de las estrategias empleadas por los comercia... more RESUMEN: Este artículo ofrece una visión diacrónica de las estrategias empleadas por los comerciantes de la Lima borbónica que participaron en los intercambios transoceánicos de la capital del virreinato del Perú. El texto está vertebrado en torno a la experiencia de seis comerciantes vasconavarros que formaron parte de la élite comercial limeña. Estos comerciantes pertenecieron a dos generaciones distintas que afrontaron retos bien distintos: tres de ellos nacieron en la década de 1680 y fueron testigos del ocaso del sistema de Galeones a Tierra Firme; los tres restantes nacieron medio siglo más tarde y conocieron tanto el renacer del comercio colonial por la ruta del Cabo de Hornos como su debacle final a comienzos del siglo XIX.
ABSTRACT: This article offers a diachronic view of the strategies employed by Bourbon Lima merchants that participated in the transoceanic exchanges of the viceregal capital of Peru. The text is structured around the experiences of six Basques who were members of the limeño merchant elite. These merchants belonged to two different generations that were faced with quite different challenges: three of them were born in the 1680s and witnessed the decline of the system of fleets to Tierra Firme; the other three were born half a century later and experienced both the recovery of colonial trade via the Cape Horn route and its final demise at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
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Revista de Indias, vol. 74, no. 262 (2014), pp. 693-722., Dec 2014
This article analyses the presence in Manila of Armenian merchants from New Julfa, and aims to br... more This article analyses the presence in Manila of Armenian merchants from New Julfa, and aims to bring together Spanish primary sources and the rich historiography on the Julfan trade diaspora. Attracted by the silver arriving from Acapulco, Armenians played an important commercial role in the Philippines. We address their complicated relationship with the Spanish authorities, their participation in both inter-Asiatic and trans-Pacific exchanges, and their life experiences as told in their own words before the court of the Spanish Inquisition in Manila.
KEYWORDS: Armenian merchants; foreigners in Manila; trade diaspora; cross-cultural trade; respondentia bonds; Spanish colonial trade.
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Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 91, no. 2 (2011), pp. 299-331, 2011
This article examines transatlantic trade —always a source of risk and uncertainty— from the pers... more This article examines transatlantic trade —always a source of risk and uncertainty— from the perspective of collaboration, analyzing a theme that historians have given only scant attention: the role of interpersonal trust (confianza) in the configuration of trade networks (understood as informal collaborations among merchants for the purpose of mobilizing capital and merchandise). The study of these networks allows us to reevaluate the role played by the merchant guilds in the Atlantic region and to take a closer look at the efficacy of the restrictive measures imposed by the Spanish Crown. Certainly, contrasting the mechanisms of collaboration among merchants with the limits of inclusion and exclusion set forth in the law contributes to a better understanding of the very nature of commerce between the metropolis and its American colonies.
Specifically, this study analyzes the experiences of a significant number of merchants who took part in direct trade between Cádiz and Lima. A variety of documentation found in the archives of Seville, Lima, and London (including hundreds of private letters from Peru that were intercepted by British privateers) illuminates the practice of mutual consignments (recíprocas consignaciones) between Spanish and Peruvian merchants, a source of institutional antagonism and bitter debates during the period from 1729 to 1780. The markedly informal nature of these transatlantic relations demonstrates that the organization of commerce was held together by bonds of trust born of blood relationships, friendships, and common geographical origins among the merchants and nourished by an increasing flow of information.
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Colonial Latin American Review, vol. 20, no. 1 (2011), pp. 9-33, 2011
Este artículo explora las vivencias de los ‘flotistas’ (comerciantes y agentes españoles que viaj... more Este artículo explora las vivencias de los ‘flotistas’ (comerciantes y agentes españoles que viajaban a Nueva España en las flotas) de finales del siglo XVII. El acercamiento a los protagonistas del comercio es importante porque solo así se pueden evaluar tres aspectos cruciales de los intercambios transatlánticos: en primer lugar el funcionamiento del sistema de flotas desde dentro, en conjunción con la incidencia del contrabando, el fraude y el comercio intercolonial; en segundo lugar, el análisis del día a día del comercio permite evaluar el grado de incertidumbre y riesgo al que los comerciantes se veían sometidos, y qué decisiones tomaban al respecto; y, por último, la lectura de la correspondencia de los propios comerciantes permite acceder al rico entramado de relaciones sociales sobre los que se sustentaba el comercio, lo cual sirve de contrapunto a la visión marcadamente corporativa que se extrae de documentos oficiales de origen gubernamental o consular. Se analizan las funciones que cumplían los flotistas, sus negocios, su movilidad dentro del virreinato, sus redes comerciales y sociales, la información de que disponían sobre el mercado colonial, sus expectativas y planes, y su contacto con la metrópoli mientras se encontraban en tierras novohispanas. Con ello se quiere contribuir a un mejor conocimiento de la organización del comercio transatlántico español bajo su forma más característica y duradera, y en su periodo menos conocido.
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International Journal of Maritime History, vol. 20, no. 2 (2008), pp. 81-109, 2008
The crucial role of the ship captain in eighteenth-century trade has scarcely been analyzed by hi... more The crucial role of the ship captain in eighteenth-century trade has scarcely been analyzed by historians. In the absence of work that focuses specifically on captains, we are left with overviews that appear within studies of shipping and shipowning. By using Basque ship captains as a case study, this article provides a measure of redress by analyzing ship captains from an economic, social and cultural perspective. In so doing, it sheds light on the complex web of social and economic interactions that underpinned early modern trade. It explores three interconnected themes beginning with the role of Basque ship captains in the intricate system of collection, distribution, transportation and communication that linked the different commercial areas in which the merchants of Bilbao and San Sebastián exercised influence. It considers their role in sustaining trade networks. In the eighteenth century, relationships between merchants and their overseas agents were primarily based on trust and reputations and were greatly affected by what economists call “the principal-agent problem,” which is to say that agents possessed information to which merchants were not directly privy. Distance and the slow pace of communications also meant that agents were occasionally tempted to cheat on their principals, something that, from the merchants’ perspective, was aggravated by the difficulty of monitoring agents’ honesty and performance. Since the existing historiography unfairly omits ship captains from the principal-agent equation, the article will explore in some detail the contribution they made to the creation and maintenance of trading networks. Basque captains were in a privileged position to provide the merchants and shipowners of Bilbao and San Sebastián with information on the reliability of potential and existing agents overseas and thus to mitigate some of the uncertainty arising from the principal-agent problem. Finally, the Basque example offers a case study in the function of family and ethnicity in eighteenth-century maritime trade with an emphasis on trust and its social and cultural ramifications.
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Revista de Historia Económica, vol. 25, no. 2 (2007), pp. 231-258, 2007
This article analyses various transformations that took place within the Spanish colonial trade b... more This article analyses various transformations that took place within the Spanish colonial trade before the implementation of the 1778 free trade regulations. Firstly it shows the changes in the pattern of trade caused by the adoption in 1739 of the system of register ships (single «registered» ships), which resulted in the cancellation of the traditional system of fleets. Secondly it examines the role of transatlantic mail in shaping a new, increasingly retail-oriented pattern of trade. Finally, it deals with the evolution of the flow of commercial information crossing the Atlantic, stressing the growing impact of fashion. The primary sources used are mainly letters belonging to Spanish merchants that were confiscated by the British during the eighteenth-century wars.
KEYWORDS: Spanish colonial trade, transatlantic mail, commercial information, fashion, eighteenth century
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Obradoiro de Historia Moderna, no. 16 (2007), pp. 115-145, 2007
This article studies three concepts that had a fundamental impact upon the social and economic be... more This article studies three concepts that had a fundamental impact upon the social and economic behaviour of the eighteenth-century merchant: confidentiality, reputation, and trust. The study is divided into three sections. Firstly, the three concepts are defined and analysed in the context of eighteenth-century trade, before moving on to a discussion on both the methodology and a collection of primary sources that may help to explore the daily operation of the three concepts. Finally, the third and more substantial part is devoted to the example of Juan de Eguino and his business trip to Viceroyal Lima; Eguino was a merchant established in Cádiz, that was forced to travel to Peru after he became convinced that his two Lima partners were cheating him.
KEYWORDS: merchants, colonial trade, trust, confidentiality, distrust, merchant networks, reputation, secretism.
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Book chapters by Xabier Lamikiz
in M. A. Sorroche Cuerva (ed.), Armenia en el Mundo Hispano (Granada, Alhulia, 2024), pp. 118-162.
Entre los siglos XVI y XVIII, el puerto de Manila estuvo abierto al comercio de extranjeros asiát... more Entre los siglos XVI y XVIII, el puerto de Manila estuvo abierto al comercio de extranjeros asiáticos (no así europeos) que acudían atraídos por la plata americana que llegaba de Acapulco anualmente. Aunque el de los chinos o “sangleyes”, la comunidad extranjera más numerosa, es el caso más estudiado, también hubo capitanes y comerciantes de otros lugares de Asia y de las islas del Sureste Asiático. La mayoría de estas poblaciones foráneas no era católica y residía permanentemente o de pasada en el parián de los chinos o en los barrios de extramuros de la ciudad. Entre los extranjeros hubo algunos que decidieron hacerse católicos en la propia Manila. No todos seguían el mismo procedimiento. Los cristianos no católicos debían pasar por un proceso de reconciliación dirigido por el Santo Oficio de la Inquisición. Los autos de reconciliación abiertos por el comisario inquisidor ofrecen valiosa información sobre el origen geográfico y social del peticionario, su recorrido vital y sus creencias religiosas. En este capítulo examinamos los testimonios de 26 armenios de Nueva Julfa (Irán) que decidieron abandonar la Iglesia Apostólica Armenia para reconciliarse con la Iglesia Católica Romana en Manila entre 1734 y 1772.
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in P. Lains et al. (eds), An Economic History of the Iberian Peninsula, 700-2000 (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2024), pp. 409-442.
Book description: This is a comprehensive long-run history of economic and political change in th... more Book description: This is a comprehensive long-run history of economic and political change in the Iberian Peninsula. Beginning with the development of the old medieval kingdoms, it goes on to explore two countries, Portugal and Spain, which during the early modern period possessed vast empires and played an essential role in the global economic and political developments. It traces how and why both countries began to fall behind during the first stages of industrialization and modern economic growth only to achieve remarkable economic development during the second half of the twentieth century. Written by a team of leading historians, the book sheds new light on all aspects of economic history from population, agriculture, manufacturing and international trade to government, finance and welfare. The book includes extensive new data and will be an essential work of reference for scholars of Portugal and Spain and also of comparative European economic development.
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in R. Lanza García (coor.), Los dineros de la corona: Finanzas y cambio fiscal en la Monarquía Hispánica, siglos XVI-XVII (Granada, Comares, 2023), pp. 213-248.
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in A. Aragón Ruano and A. Angulo Morales (coors.), Una década prodigiosa: Beligerancia y negociación entre la Corona y las provincias vascas, 1717-1728 (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2019), pp. 95-124.
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in R. Lanza García (coor.), Las instituciones económicas, las finanzas públicas y el declive de España en la Edad Moderna (Madrid, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 2017), pp. 283-314, 2017
This book chapter analyses two economic institutions that helped Bilbao to become the most import... more This book chapter analyses two economic institutions that helped Bilbao to become the most important trade centre in the north of Spain over the course of the seventeenth century. They were the local merchant guild or "consulado", and the system of hostelling foreign merchants, who were obliged to lodge in the house of some local. The essay examines the transformations that affected these typically medieval institutions against a backdrop of urban competition and economic crisis. The paper tests Oscar Gelderblom's theoretical framework that sees urban rivalry as the main factor fostering the creation of open-access institutions in international trade.
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in M. Herrero Sánchez and K. Kaps (eds), Merchants and Trade Networks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 1550-1800: Connectors of Commercial Maritime Systems (London and New York, Routledge, 2017), pp. 39-61. , 2017
In recent years a growing number of historians have, to varying degrees, drawn on socio-economic ... more In recent years a growing number of historians have, to varying degrees, drawn on socio-economic theory to analyse and explain the organisation of long-distance trade in the early modern period. Part of this trend has been the picturing of international or global trade as the result of an interconnected web of social networks (and other institutions, both formal and informal) which underpinned that trade. There is no doubt that the use of socio-economic theory plays an enlightening role in explaining merchant collaboration, but in my view this interdisciplinary approach also raises important questions about the historian’s job. My concern is threefold.
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in A. Angulo Morales and A. Aragón Ruano (eds), Recuperando el Norte: Empresas, capitales y proyectos atlánticos en la economía imperial hispánica (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2016), pp. 103-128., 2016
Did merchant guilds create social capital? And if so, what kind of social capital? This essay dis... more Did merchant guilds create social capital? And if so, what kind of social capital? This essay discusses recent literature dealing with those important questions, and analyses the case of the merchant guild of Bilbao (1511-1829).
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in Jean-Philippe Priotti (ed.), Identités et territoires dans les mondes hispaniques, XVIe-XXe siècle (Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2015), pp. 97-117., 2015
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in Pierre Gervais, Yannick Lemarchand and Dominique Margairaz (eds), Merchants and Profit in the Age of Commerce, 1650-1850 (London, Pickering & Chatto, 2014), pp. 95-113 and 199-203 (endnotes)., 2014
This chapter shows that private price information was the privileged vehicle for Spanish merchant... more This chapter shows that private price information was the privileged vehicle for Spanish merchants with respect to South America, and then only once the system of the flotas had been dismantled and communications significantly improved. When two markets were separated geographically by distance, therefore by time, current prices at any one time were not helpful signals: the time lags and market instability were too important to base one's decision on such signals. LAMIKIZ proves that price formation was a complex, negotiated process in which prices were only used as guideposts in situations in which customary, rule-of-thumb-based gross margins had been officially provided as starting points for negotiators.
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in Oscar Recio (ed.), Redes de nación y espacios de poder: la comunidad irlandesa en España y la América española, 1600-1825 (Valencia: Albatros, 2012), pp. 327-344., 2012
La participación extranjera en el comercio entre España y sus posesiones americanas fue una const... more La participación extranjera en el comercio entre España y sus posesiones americanas fue una constante durante todo el periodo colonial, y ello a pesar de una profusa y continuamente renovada legislación que prohibía la presencia extranjera en dichos intercambios transatlánticos. Bastaba con que alguien legalmente habilitado para el comercio con América actuara de "prestanombre" a cambio de una comisión. Si bien esta práctica ha sido documentada en numerosas ocasiones, su verdadera indicencia es difícilmente cuantificable, por no hablar de su evolución temporal. Con todo, la cuantificación no es el único problema al que se enfrenta el historiador. La historiografía ofrece, además, una imagen marcadamente unilateral o peninsular del comercio encubierto de extranjeros, prestando escasa atención al hecho, obvio, de que un conocimiento integral del comercio transatlántico requiere de una visión bilateral o transoceánica. Así, el encubrimiento de consignaciones parece ocurrir exclusivamente en la orilla peninsular. Su posterior suerte en tierras americanas es un aspecto obviado y por lo tanto poco o nada conocido.
Con objeto de abordar estos problemas, el presente trabajo analiza la participación extranjera en una ruta comercial concreta durante un periodo concreto. Se trata del comercio entre Cádiz y el Callao (puerto de Lima) desde la apertura de la navegación directa por el Cabo de Hornos en la década de 1740, hasta el fin del monopolio de ambos puertos con la publicación del Reglamento del libre comercio en octubre de 1778, el cual no sería aplicado a esta ruta hasta después de concluida la guerra con Gran Bretaña en 1783. Algunos de los argumentos aquí presentados están tomados de un libro recientemente publicado que explora la importancia de la confianza interpersonal como ingrediente necesario (aunque no suficiente) para la configuración de redes comerciales o, dicho de otro modo, para promover la colaboración entre agentes económicos. En esa ocasión, por limitaciones de espacio impuestas por los editores, me vi obligado a prescindir de interesante documentación referente a la participación de extranjeros en el comercio colonial español. Dicha documentación ha sido rescatada para el presente trabajo, así como fuentes adicionales halladas recientemente.
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Refereed articles by Xabier Lamikiz
Abstract: This article analyzes the financing of the Carrera de Indias in the late colonial period and differs from the historiography of commercial credit in that it adopts a transatlantic perspective. We examine the main instrument of credit employed in the Spanish Atlantic, the respondentia (sea loan). The route studied is the one that linked Cadiz with the coasts of Peru and Chile. We trace the evolution of the loans, showing their boom before the 1778 free trade and their decline after 1785. To elucidate the origin of the money and the creditors’ place of abode, we have looked into both notarial sources and business correspondence. Our research shows that Peruvians and, to a lesser degree, Chileans financed about a quarter of the capital lent in Cadiz. Transoceanic social networks played a key role in allocating and managing credit.
The population density of the Basque Atlantic valleys, which was the highest of any region in Spain, was an important factor that encouraged emigration. And, in response to demographic pressure, in the second half of the 15th century most villages and towns adopted an impartible inheritance system that compelled non-inheriting offspring to seek their fortunes outside the country. Castile was the immediate choice for the Basque émigré, but after 1492 America gradually became an attractive destination. Outside their home country, their unique language and sense of collective nobility (hidalguía universal) were to become two outstanding features of Basque cultural identity.
The Basques’ share of total Spanish migration to the New World increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century. By the 18th century they were one of the largest and most influential peninsular regional groups in America. The typical Basque émigré was a young, single man aged between fifteen and thirty. In the New World they left their mark in economic activities that their countrymen had developed in their homeland for centuries: trade, navigation, shipbuilding, and mining. Furthermore, Basques’ collective nobility and limpieza de sangre (blood purity) facilitated their access to important official positions.
KEYWORDS: Basque diaspora, Atlantic diasporas, Atlantic history, transatlantic migration, Spanish America, colonial merchants, silver miners, religious congregations
ABSTRACT: This article offers a diachronic view of the strategies employed by Bourbon Lima merchants that participated in the transoceanic exchanges of the viceregal capital of Peru. The text is structured around the experiences of six Basques who were members of the limeño merchant elite. These merchants belonged to two different generations that were faced with quite different challenges: three of them were born in the 1680s and witnessed the decline of the system of fleets to Tierra Firme; the other three were born half a century later and experienced both the recovery of colonial trade via the Cape Horn route and its final demise at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
KEYWORDS: Armenian merchants; foreigners in Manila; trade diaspora; cross-cultural trade; respondentia bonds; Spanish colonial trade.
Specifically, this study analyzes the experiences of a significant number of merchants who took part in direct trade between Cádiz and Lima. A variety of documentation found in the archives of Seville, Lima, and London (including hundreds of private letters from Peru that were intercepted by British privateers) illuminates the practice of mutual consignments (recíprocas consignaciones) between Spanish and Peruvian merchants, a source of institutional antagonism and bitter debates during the period from 1729 to 1780. The markedly informal nature of these transatlantic relations demonstrates that the organization of commerce was held together by bonds of trust born of blood relationships, friendships, and common geographical origins among the merchants and nourished by an increasing flow of information.
KEYWORDS: Spanish colonial trade, transatlantic mail, commercial information, fashion, eighteenth century
KEYWORDS: merchants, colonial trade, trust, confidentiality, distrust, merchant networks, reputation, secretism.
Book chapters by Xabier Lamikiz
Con objeto de abordar estos problemas, el presente trabajo analiza la participación extranjera en una ruta comercial concreta durante un periodo concreto. Se trata del comercio entre Cádiz y el Callao (puerto de Lima) desde la apertura de la navegación directa por el Cabo de Hornos en la década de 1740, hasta el fin del monopolio de ambos puertos con la publicación del Reglamento del libre comercio en octubre de 1778, el cual no sería aplicado a esta ruta hasta después de concluida la guerra con Gran Bretaña en 1783. Algunos de los argumentos aquí presentados están tomados de un libro recientemente publicado que explora la importancia de la confianza interpersonal como ingrediente necesario (aunque no suficiente) para la configuración de redes comerciales o, dicho de otro modo, para promover la colaboración entre agentes económicos. En esa ocasión, por limitaciones de espacio impuestas por los editores, me vi obligado a prescindir de interesante documentación referente a la participación de extranjeros en el comercio colonial español. Dicha documentación ha sido rescatada para el presente trabajo, así como fuentes adicionales halladas recientemente.
Abstract: This article analyzes the financing of the Carrera de Indias in the late colonial period and differs from the historiography of commercial credit in that it adopts a transatlantic perspective. We examine the main instrument of credit employed in the Spanish Atlantic, the respondentia (sea loan). The route studied is the one that linked Cadiz with the coasts of Peru and Chile. We trace the evolution of the loans, showing their boom before the 1778 free trade and their decline after 1785. To elucidate the origin of the money and the creditors’ place of abode, we have looked into both notarial sources and business correspondence. Our research shows that Peruvians and, to a lesser degree, Chileans financed about a quarter of the capital lent in Cadiz. Transoceanic social networks played a key role in allocating and managing credit.
The population density of the Basque Atlantic valleys, which was the highest of any region in Spain, was an important factor that encouraged emigration. And, in response to demographic pressure, in the second half of the 15th century most villages and towns adopted an impartible inheritance system that compelled non-inheriting offspring to seek their fortunes outside the country. Castile was the immediate choice for the Basque émigré, but after 1492 America gradually became an attractive destination. Outside their home country, their unique language and sense of collective nobility (hidalguía universal) were to become two outstanding features of Basque cultural identity.
The Basques’ share of total Spanish migration to the New World increased significantly in the second half of the 17th century. By the 18th century they were one of the largest and most influential peninsular regional groups in America. The typical Basque émigré was a young, single man aged between fifteen and thirty. In the New World they left their mark in economic activities that their countrymen had developed in their homeland for centuries: trade, navigation, shipbuilding, and mining. Furthermore, Basques’ collective nobility and limpieza de sangre (blood purity) facilitated their access to important official positions.
KEYWORDS: Basque diaspora, Atlantic diasporas, Atlantic history, transatlantic migration, Spanish America, colonial merchants, silver miners, religious congregations
ABSTRACT: This article offers a diachronic view of the strategies employed by Bourbon Lima merchants that participated in the transoceanic exchanges of the viceregal capital of Peru. The text is structured around the experiences of six Basques who were members of the limeño merchant elite. These merchants belonged to two different generations that were faced with quite different challenges: three of them were born in the 1680s and witnessed the decline of the system of fleets to Tierra Firme; the other three were born half a century later and experienced both the recovery of colonial trade via the Cape Horn route and its final demise at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
KEYWORDS: Armenian merchants; foreigners in Manila; trade diaspora; cross-cultural trade; respondentia bonds; Spanish colonial trade.
Specifically, this study analyzes the experiences of a significant number of merchants who took part in direct trade between Cádiz and Lima. A variety of documentation found in the archives of Seville, Lima, and London (including hundreds of private letters from Peru that were intercepted by British privateers) illuminates the practice of mutual consignments (recíprocas consignaciones) between Spanish and Peruvian merchants, a source of institutional antagonism and bitter debates during the period from 1729 to 1780. The markedly informal nature of these transatlantic relations demonstrates that the organization of commerce was held together by bonds of trust born of blood relationships, friendships, and common geographical origins among the merchants and nourished by an increasing flow of information.
KEYWORDS: Spanish colonial trade, transatlantic mail, commercial information, fashion, eighteenth century
KEYWORDS: merchants, colonial trade, trust, confidentiality, distrust, merchant networks, reputation, secretism.
Con objeto de abordar estos problemas, el presente trabajo analiza la participación extranjera en una ruta comercial concreta durante un periodo concreto. Se trata del comercio entre Cádiz y el Callao (puerto de Lima) desde la apertura de la navegación directa por el Cabo de Hornos en la década de 1740, hasta el fin del monopolio de ambos puertos con la publicación del Reglamento del libre comercio en octubre de 1778, el cual no sería aplicado a esta ruta hasta después de concluida la guerra con Gran Bretaña en 1783. Algunos de los argumentos aquí presentados están tomados de un libro recientemente publicado que explora la importancia de la confianza interpersonal como ingrediente necesario (aunque no suficiente) para la configuración de redes comerciales o, dicho de otro modo, para promover la colaboración entre agentes económicos. En esa ocasión, por limitaciones de espacio impuestas por los editores, me vi obligado a prescindir de interesante documentación referente a la participación de extranjeros en el comercio colonial español. Dicha documentación ha sido rescatada para el presente trabajo, así como fuentes adicionales halladas recientemente.
Sin embargo, ambas razones son en gran medida inexactas: 1) la mayoría de comerciantes establecidos en Cádiz durante la segunda mitad del siglo no fueron oriundos de la ciudad, sino provenientes de otras regiones españolas (sobre todo del norte peninsular) y extranjeras (sobre todo de Francia); y 2) según los últimos datos publicados por Antonio García-Baquero en 2003, el incremento del comercio colonial no puede calificarse, en ningún caso, de espectacular. Más importante aún, la interpretación de Fernández ignora las transformaciones sufridas en el comercio colonial a raíz de la sustitución del sistema de flotas y galeones por el de navíos de registro, ocurrido precisamente a mediados de siglo. En mi opinión, es precisamente en esa transformación donde reside la explicación de los datos proporcionados por Paloma Fernández, porque el nuevo patrón de comercio que se fue gestando a partir de 1750 obligó a los comerciantes españoles a permanecer en América durante periodos mucho más prolongados que en la primera mitad de siglo."
Aunque publicado en octubre de 1778, el denominado Reglamento y aranceles reales para el comercio libre de España a Indias no pudo ser plenamente instaurado hasta la finalización de la guerra con Inglaterra en 1783. En ese momento 13 puertos peninsulares y 27 americanos recibieron permiso para participar en el comercio transatlántico sin restricciones. Se ponía así punto final al monopolio de Cádiz. La medida perseguía dos objetivos muy claros: 1) aumentar los ingresos de la monarquía; y 2) promover la agricultura, industria, navegación y comercio de España y sus colonias. Sin embargo, ni los protagonistas contemporáneos ni los historiadores actuales parecen ponerse de acuerdo a la hora de hacer balance de los resultados cosechados. Mientras las autoridades peninsulares y coloniales ensalzaron sus beneficiosos efectos, los comerciantes de Cádiz, Lima y México — que hasta entonces habían ostentado el monopolio del comercio colonial — no se cansaron de asegurar que el “libre comercio” había tenido ruinosas consecuencias. ¿Fue el libre comercio un éxito o un fracaso? Para el profesor John Fisher fue un éxito sin parangón. Para otros historiadores, como Josep María Delgado y Antonio Miguel Bernal, los datos presentados por Fisher son altamente cuestionables. Más preciso en sus críticas ha sido Antonio García-Baquero, quien ha proporcionado datos estadísticos que desdicen la lectura triunfalista de Fisher.
Esta comunicación aborda el mismo problema desde una nueva perspectiva, realizando un detallado recorrido por los primeros años del libre comercio desde el punto de vista de un comerciante navarro establecido en Cádiz, Juan Vicente Marticorena. En lugar de exportaciones e importaciones, se presta atención a aspectos tales como el patrón de comercio, el sistema de comunicaciones (fuente de descoordinación, desfase y lentitud) y el flujo de información (tanto intrapeninsular como transatlántico), con objeto de hacer un balance del riesgo relacionado con la toma de decisiones. Las conclusiones sugieren que, de la manera en que se llevo a cabo, el “libre comercio” difícilmente pudo cosechar resultados espectaculares.
My talk starts at 1:15:10.
The study of the transatlantic slave trade is becoming increasingly sophisticated, diverse, and international. Challenging prevailing stereotypes about the dominance of northern European business interests, García Montón's study shows the persistent vigour of Genoa's merchant community in this examination of the asiento system that emerged in the 1660s. Along the way, he also illuminates the slave trade's connections to many other forms of trade, legitimate and illegitimate, on both sides of the Atlantic. Impressed with his research and approach, these six reviewers discuss its implications for a variety of international contexts, from Central Europe to Italy, Iberia, England, and the Caribbean, including the profitability of the asiento trade and the many different people who participated in and benefitted from it on both sides of the Atlantic. It emerges that the asiento was about much more than just the slave trade. Its profits and trading networks helped integrate the different imperial economies with footholds in the Caribbean. Drawing on the wealth of new scholarship from these different historiographies, they raise questions about elements that García Montón did not fully pursue in the book. He responds with additional research to address some of those issues, while calling for more research on the interconnected "asiento worlds" that are one of his most fascinating and unanticipated results.
El enlace Zoom para asistir al seminario lo encontrarán en el cartel (PDF).
Pueden encontrar información sobre el programa HIRECOM aquí: https://www.casadevelazquez.org/es/investigacion/programas-cientificos-ehehi/axe-ii-circulations-echanges-reseaux/hirecom/presentacion-general/