Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE BRITISH ROLE IN THE SLAVE
TRADE AND CONTRABAND, 1740
The commerce of Buenos Ayres is very extensive, and indeed
such a commerce as no other port in the Spanish West Indies
can boast. . . . The trade carried on betwixt Buenos Ayres and Europe
should be only by the register-ships from Spain; but besides this, there
is carried on a contraband trade to England and Spain; and there is
another with the Portuguese who possess the opposite shore of the
Rio-de-la-Plata, by means of little vessels, under cover of sending their
own commodities, but really European goods.
Besides the different branches of trade carried on here, already
mentioned, there was still another very considerable article, namely, the
importation of negro slaves. . . .
A very considerable part of the gold and silver of Peru and Chili [sic]
is exported from Buenos Ayres to Europe; as also great quantities of
hides and tallow, with such other commodities as are furnished by this
part of America: for the importance of this place principally consists
in its convenient situation for commerce; whereby the most valuable
commodities, in the most distant provinces of the Spanish empire, are
brought here to be exchanged for European goods.
Source:
Campbell, J.
An Account of the Spanish Settlements in America
(Edinburgh, Scotland: A. Donaldson & J. Reid, 1762), pp. 330-333.
south onto the frontier where great herds of wild cattle and horses
had multiplied. What the hunters desired most were hides for trade,
tongues to supply to the local meat market, and tallow for candles and
Population Estimates for Buenos Aires, 1615-1770
1615 1,000 persons
1674 4,607
1720 8,908
1770 22,551
Source: Brown, Jonathan C.
ASocioeconomicHistoryofArgentina,1776-1860
(Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 22.
