Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ing citizens.
Porteño
society differed from that of many other Spanish
American cities in that Buenos Aires's wealthiest and most-respected
citizens were not primarily government officials, miners, landowners,
or the titled nobility. They were overseas merchants who, of necessity,
cultivated political connections rather than land. These merchants con-
trolled the importation of slaves and mercury and the exportation of
silver and hides. Their credit supported the merchandising of European
finished goods throughout the Southern Cone. Invariably marrying
native-born daughters of older Spanish merchants in Buenos Aires,
these Iberian-born
comerciantes
established families that diversified into
local marketing and public office.
As a consequence of European war, however, Spain's colonial trade
suffered a volatile series of booms and busts between 1790 and 1810.
The volume of trade during two periods, 1797-1801 and 1805-8, fell
to levels just 10 percent of what they had been in 1790. Contraband
commerce with British and, increasingly, Yankee merchants helped
make up the difference. Creole merchants now competed on an equal
footing with Spaniards, who became disgruntled at the loss of their old
privileges. “Free trade with the English has put our commerce in such
a deplorable state,” lamented one Spaniard, “because all of the English
manufactured goods are so cheap; we will be left without any money or
silverware” (Socolow 1978, 166).
By 1810, the power of the Spanish-born merchants had been
reduced, and the group was unable to prevent the passing of political
and economic power to their hitherto less-privileged Creole cousins.
The result of this disintegration was independence. In the process of
its precipitous decline, the Spanish merchant class at Buenos Aires lost
control of its trade, its social ties throughout the region, its political
power and, ultimately, its own wealth.
The economic resurgence of the Creoles contributed to the self-
assurance of South Americans. Indeed, they had already been preparing
for this moment by participating in the general European intellectual
ferment of the 18th century. The Enlightenment in France and Great
Britain questioned authority and promoted rational thought and
experimentation. In Spain and Portugal, however, the kings' ministers
adopted only elements concerning rational thought and experimenta-
tion. The Iberian brand of the Enlightenment promoted their ideas of
agricultural development and their conceptions about strengthening
administration and mercantilism, which meant milking the American
colonies for raw materials and reaping trade revenues from an enforced
commerce. However, other concepts such as popular sovereignty, the
