Trade, Institutions, and Merchant Capital. The opening of Mexico put in perspective (1750-1850)

In 1821, the new authorities of independent Mexico abolished the old system of the Carrera de Indias, which reserved the exclusivity of the country’s foreign trade to the subjects of the Spanish crown, and proclaimed ‘freedom of trade’, i.e. the opening of the country’s ports and trade places to all flags and merchants of the world. Despite its importance, this event has generally been little studied by a historiography that prefers to highlight the previous experiences of openness that Mexico had during its colonial history (privileges of Sea South Company, neutral trade, smuggling), or even the new ‘dependency’ it fell into with the United Kingdom after its independence. The trade data mobilised here for the period 1750-1850, however, are clear: While the nature and volume of products traded between Mexico and Europe changed little in the first decades of the nineteenth century, the overall pattern of the country’s foreign trade did change significantly. Henceforth, nationals of several countries competed in Mexico’s Atlantic trade. Beyond this fundamental difference, the two commercial configurations thus highlighted are nevertheless similar on one essential point: neither of them can be read as the simple implementation of a predetermined imperial project or, on the contrary, as the strict result of the free play of commercial forces; on the contrary, both appear to be the result of a close interplay between institutional and social dynamics that determine and reinforce each other.