Confronting a Mercantile Elite: Bourbon Reformers and the Merchants of Lima, 1765–1796

Abstract

After Spain’s defeat in the Seven Years’ War (1757-1763), when the British had occupied Havana and Manila, a series of territorial, commercial, and tax reforms brought significant change to the viceroyalty of Peru. Their economic effects have been matters for debate ever since. Some historians have emphasized their positive effects. Following promulgation of theReglamento de comercio libreof 1778, the volume and value of European manufactures exported to the Pacific coast of Spanish South America increased. Lima and its port city, Callao, remained important as commercial centers of Spanish South America. But others suggest that the viceregal capital—home to a powerful mercantile elite, the magnates of theconsulado(merchant guild) of Lima—suffered a decline in its economic fortunes, as did the entire viceroyalty. Support for this point of view was widespread in late colonial Peru. In spite of the evidence for growth, a rising chorus of complaint bemoaned the increasing poverty of the viceroyalty in general and Lima in particular. How can we account for this discrepancy?

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