Early Colonial Trade And Navigation Between Mexico And Peru -- By Woodrow Wilson Borah

Someday there might be a classic book or movie about those wild 16th century days down in Peru that much of history has ignored. Borah's Early Colonial Trade opens the imagination.

Roving bands of winos, corrupt government customs officials, and enough transplanted single Spaniards to fill an army were almost everywhere. Revolts against the Crown came in triplicate, and Madrid was nervous about more.

Trade with China was good. So good, in fact, that the Spanish royals were purposely fixing regulations to favor Mexico in the profitable Manila galleon trade, which brought valuable, but affordable goods from China. Chinese goods sold very well, and undercut Spanish and European offerings. Madrid was struggling to maintain a trade monopoly with its colonies in the Americas, and they weren't making any friends doing so.

There were a handful of Manila galleon voyages direct from East Asia to Peru, but that was quickly cut off. However, sharp-thinking merchants and cunning sea captains learned to get Chinese goods in resale through Acapulco, and that other much less scrutinized voyages could deliver untaxed to small ports on Peru's northern coast.

 

Never mind the government, there's big money to be made.

Early Colonial Trade is largely academic, and not a thrilling swashbuckler, but it lays out the facts and stirs the imagination. The last three chapters are the best and show how a sailor from almost anywhere, despite any regulation, could find himself anywhere in the Americas.

I have to thank Cal-Davis history professor Andres Resendez for his recommendation on this.