Introduction: The Commercial System of the Spanish Empire

The growth of Spain’s Imperial power in America in the sixteenth century was accompanied by a natural increase in communications between the newly-founded colonies and the mother country. As expansion continued, supplies of stores and equipment of all kinds were sent out to the colonies more and more frequently and in larger quantities, and it was not long before the Indies in their turn were sending produce across the Atlantic, eastwards to Spain. So began the first reciprocal trade between the Old World and the New. However, despite the valuable importations of cacao, sugar, cotton, hides, dyewoods, tobacco and other American produce, current ‘bullionist’ economic theories caused the nation’s main interest to focus upon the gold and silver, the pearls and emeralds, the so-called ‘riches’ of the New World. During the course of the sixteenth century the Spanish Crown became increasingly obsessed with the exploitation of the mineral wealth of the colonies as a means of financing its costly European wars. Indeed, so convinced did it become that the main economic purpose of developing the American possessions was to provide a maximum supply of precious metals to the metropolis, that before the end of the century the Crown was already beginning to regret much of the good work which had previously been done to promote colonial agriculture and industry.