Consequences of Warfare, Reforms, and Capitalism in Late Colonial Port of Veracruz, Mexico

Summary

At the beginning of the 18th century, Spain and its American colonies were still steeped in mercantilism with the Spanish Crown and elite merchants struggling to maintain a monopoly over trans-Atlantic trade. Over the next hundred years, this economic system was transformed as a result of political and economic events in Europe and the Spanish colonies. By the end of the 18th century, the Port of Veracruz, once one of the few legal ports in Spain's American colonies, was now one of many ports open to rapidly growing trade with Europe. Wealthy merchants who benefited from the mercantile policies of previous centuries were replaced by a new generation of local and foreign entrepreneurs. In this paper, I investigate the social and economic consequences of global developments within the Port of Veracruz by examining periodic shifts in the consumption of local and imported ceramics that coincided with European wars, economic reforms, and developing capitalism. I consider how these shifts varied between two lower status neighborhoods within the port in order to evaluate different consumption strategies and the impact of global changes on economically vulnerable people.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Capital, Craft, and Consumption in Mesoamerica after the Spanish Invasion

Keywords

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