page_title: Historiography of Colonial Spanish America
section_title: Trade and transportation
hierarchical_section_title: Historiography of Colonial Spanish America / Economic history / Trade and transportation
caption_attribution_description: English: Litography of Acapulco port in 1628, during the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Litog. Ruffoni, 1628. 56x43 cm; 22x17 Converted from GIF to PNG by the uploader. A colored, picture relief map of the area with an explanation of the letters used. Español: Litografía de el puerto de Acapulco en 1628, durante el virreinato de Nueva España (hoy México), en el Mar del sur.
context_page_description: The historiography of colonial Spanish America in multiple languages is vast and has a long history. It dates back to the early sixteenth century with multiple competing accounts of the conquest, Spaniards’ eighteenth-century attempts to discover how to reverse the decline of its empire, and Latin American-born Spaniards' search for an identity other than Spanish, and the creation of creole patriotism. Following independence in some parts of Spanish America, some politically-engaged citizens of the new sovereign nations sought to shape national identity. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, non-Spanish American historians began writing chronicles important events, such as the conquests of Mexico and Peru, dispassionate histories of the Spanish imperial project after its almost complete demise in the hemisphere, and histories of the southwest borderlands, areas of the United States that had previously been part of the Spanish Empire, led by Herbert Eugene Bolton.
context_section_description: Crown policy attempted to control overseas trade, setting up the Casa de Contratación in 1503 to register cargoes including immigration to the overseas empire.  From Spain, sailings to the major ports in Spanish America left from Seville. It was a distance up from the mouth of the Guadalquivir river, and its channel did not allow the largest transoceanic ships to dock there when fully loaded.
  The Carrera de Indias was the main route of Spain's Atlantic trade, originating in Seville and sailing to a few Spanish American ports in the Caribbean, particularly Santo Domingo, Veracruz, on the Atlantic coast of Panama, Nombre de Dios later Porto Bello. Since trade and commerce were so integral to the rise of Spain's power, historians undertook studies of the policies and patterns. J.H. Parry's classic The Spanish Seaborne Empire remains important for its clear explication of transatlantic trade, including ports, ships and ship building, and there is new work on Spanish politics and trade with information on the fleets.
  Transatlantic trading companies based in Spain and with partners, usually other family members, established businesses to ship a variety of goods, sourced in Spain and elsewhere in Europe and shipped to the major ports of the overseas empire.  The most important export from the New World was silver, which became essential for financing the Spanish crown and as other European powers became emboldened, the ships were targeted for their cargo.  The system of convoys or fleets (Spanish: flota) was established early on, with ships from Veracruz and from South America meeting in the Caribbean for a combined sailing to Spain.  Transpacific trade with the Spanish archipelago of the Philippines was established, with Asian goods shipped from Manila to the port of Acapulco. The Manila galleon brought silks, porcelains, and slaves to Mexico while Spanish silver was sent to Asia. The transpacific trade has been long neglected in comparison to the transatlantic trade and the rise of Atlantic history.  New works indicate that interest is increasing. Although the crown attempted to maintain a closed trading system within the Spanish Empire, the British traded with Spanish Americans, accelerating in the eighteenth century.
  Overland transportation of goods in Spanish America was generally by pack animals, especially mules, and in the Andean area llamas as well. But the Spanish did not build many roads allowing cart or carriage transport.  Transit over oceans or coastal sailing was relatively efficient compared to land transportation, and in most places in Spanish America there were few navigable rivers and no possibility of canal construction.  Transportation costs and inefficiency were drags on economic development; the problem was not overcome until railroads were constructed in the late nineteenth century.  For bulky, low value foodstuffs, local supply was a necessity, which stimulated regional development of landed estates, particularly near mines. Despite the inefficiencies overland trade, hubs of trade had main routes develop between them, with smaller communities linked by secondary or tertiary roads.  The ability to move silver from remote mining regions to ports was a priority, and the supplies to mines of mercury was essential.
caption: Acapulco in 1628, Mexican terminus of the Manila galleon
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