Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ports in Spain (instead of just Cádiz) and trade directly with Buenos
Aires and all other major ports in Spanish America. At long last the
official requirement that all trade in the Río de la Plata pass through
Lima—a requirement that had never been observed—came to an end.
Taxes on silver production were also reduced from 20 percent to 10
percent, and other tax rates went down, even though tax loopholes
were closed.
The economic results of the so-called free trade reforms were dra-
matic. Spanish commerce with its American colonies rose 300 percent.
The increase of trade was primarily the result of expanding external
demand and only secondarily of the economic reforms. In the 18th
century, the booming economies and rising populations of Europe
increased the market for Latin America's primary products. For the
Río de la Plata, this meant silver, hides, and beef jerky; therefore, the
economy expanded on primary exports, with only secondary devel-
opment of the manufacturing sector. The trade reforms represented
Spain's belated attempt to regain control of its colonial commerce, but
this it could not do. Most of the ships carrying this expanded colonial
trade were non-Spanish. Merchants and shipowners ignored even the
remaining restrictions and continued illegal trading.
The Bourbon crown also eliminated its longtime slave-trading
monopoly and permitted open trade in African slaves throughout the
empire. This trade “reform” and the economic boom of the late 18th
The Racial Composition of the Population of Mendoza, 1812
Racial Category
City
Country
Total
% of Total
White
44
Spaniards
190
46
136
Foreigners
11
8
19
Creoles
2,629
3,054
5,683
Native Americans
548
2,327
2,875
22
Slaves and Free Blacks
2,100
2,356
4,456
33
Clergy
109
40
149
1
Source: Masini, José Luis.
LaesclavitudnegraenMendoza:Epocaindependiente
(Mendoza, Argentina: D'Accurzio, 1965), p. 11.
