Early modern, long-distance trade was fraught with risk and uncertainty, driving merchants to seek means to reduce them. In the traditional historiography on Spanish colonial trade, the role of risk is largely ignored. Instead, the guild (consulado) merchants are depicted as anti-competitive monopolists who manipulated markets and exploited colonial consumers. This book argues that much of the commercial behavior interpreted by modern historians as predatory was instead designed to reduce the uncertainty and risk of Atlantic world trade. It examines the development and use of maritime insuranc ... More

Early modern, long-distance trade was fraught with risk and uncertainty, driving merchants to seek means to reduce them. In the traditional historiography on Spanish colonial trade, the role of risk is largely ignored. Instead, the guild (consulado) merchants are depicted as anti-competitive monopolists who manipulated markets and exploited colonial consumers. This book argues that much of the commercial behavior interpreted by modern historians as predatory was instead designed to reduce the uncertainty and risk of Atlantic world trade. It examines the development and use of maritime insurance in eighteenth-century Spain; the commercial strategies of Spanish merchants; the traditionally misunderstood effects of the 1778 promulgation of “comercio libre,” especially the financial chaos and bankruptcies that ensued; and other important topics. By elevating risk to the center of focus, this study makes a number of revisionist contributions to the late colonial economic history of the Spanish empire.