The 1980s and 1990s witnessed an interpretation and debate on the aims and results of Spanish free trade legislation since 1765. One of the conclusions drawn from that discussion was that Spain’s total imports from the Indies grew about fifteenfold between 1778 and 1796, with exports 400% higher in 1782-96 than in 1778. It should be noted, however, that the course of trade from the Indies had a non-political component, some of it derived from both sides of the Atlantic. Spanish ports for Atlantic trade were important from 1765, as the potential role of fiscal liberalisation in promoting trade has not been determined. However, several considerations must be taken into account in analysing this process of economic ascent. One such factor has been the avoidance of the controversies of 1747 and 1778 along with the fact that colonial imports from Spain may have substantially benefited from the slave revolts in Santo Domingo from 1789-1791. Even comparing the terms, despite the import corrections generated between 1785-96, between 1775-77 and 1790-92, the Crown and private imports show a higher average than the ratios from 1752-53 to 1774-76.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVIII, XIX
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: Cuenca–Esteban, Javier, «Statistics of Spain’s Colonial Trade, 1747–1820: New Estimates and Comparisons with Great Britain», Revista de Historia Económica, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 26, 3 (2008), pp. 323–354.
Language: English
Date: 2008
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: © Javier Cuenca-Esteban © Revista de Historia Económica
Abstract: Imports from the Indies to Spain, mainly tobacco between 1747 and 1796
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