Neutral Vessels and Platine Slavers: Building a Viceregal Merchant Marine

Abstract

Creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776 and the subsequent Edict of Free Commerce in 1778 fostered a flourishing export trade from that region, mainly of hides and silver. Merchants of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, both criollos and recently arrived peninsulares, prospered during the 1780s and early 1790s, an era of international peace. While a few of these merchants owned and operated ships out of the Río de la Plata, most were content to export to the Peninsula in craft of metropolí registry. Indeed, given the traditional and strong ties of commercial obligations to the Peninsula and the enforcement of imperial trade laws, any other course of action, if not unthinkable, would have been difficult.

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