Fiscal Crises, Forced Loans and Unintended Institutional Consequences in Wartime Buenos Aires, 1800-1820

Hart, Marjolein ’t; Moutoukias, Zacarías

doi:10.1017/s021261092000004x

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Independence and civil wars destroyed material and human resources, and affected merchants in Buenos Aires, who had to provide the armies with money, animals, goods and slaves, especially through voluntary and forced contributions, or confiscations (Halperín Donghi 2002, 84-85;Amaral 2018, 354-355;Moutoukias and 'T Hart 2021). They endured sackings perpetrated by troops (Hora 2010, 30).…”

Section: Business Difficultiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

French Merchants in Buenos Aires (1816-1825): Economic Opportunities and Difficulties during the Wars of Independence

Manac'H

2023

JESB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Unlike other foreigners, the French merchants who migrated to Hispanic America in the 19th century have received little attention, partly because they are supposed to have been few. With the emancipation of the River Plate, the Declaration of Independence in 1816 and the end of the Spanish commercial monopoly – and despite many difficulties due to revolutionary turmoil – some French merchants saw the legal opening of the rioplatense market as an opportunity and became more present in Buenos Aires, although less than their British counterparts. Building upon the Buenos Aires commercial court’s records and data from censuses, this paper sheds light on the French commercial presence in Buenos Aires during the Independence and civil wars, which hampered the circulation of credit instruments, the fluidity of credit relations, and business activities. It shows the importance of merchants’ private initiatives in consolidating the French presence, and how they coped with wartime consequences. Whereas those who were poorly integrated into local society were vulnerable in these times of crisis, others benefited from close relations within the local society and acquired economic and social prominence. Such integration may have contributed to making them key interlocutors for French authorities as they manifested an increased interest in the River Plate in the context of the post-1815 imperial reconfigurations, when international and European rivalries continued in Hispanic America, particularly between France and Britain.

show abstract

Section: Business Difficultiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

French Merchants in Buenos Aires (1816-1825): Economic Opportunities and Difficulties during the Wars of Independence

Manac'H

2023

JESB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Zacarias Moutoukias and Marjolein 'T Hart (2021) have shown how the 1810s war financing unwittingly weakened the old corporate order and further dismantled imperial structures that limited South American direct trade with foreigners. 2 As Arnaud Bartolomei (2021) has pointed out, bargaining for privileges and protection, and other mercantilist habits still characterized the opening of new markets, which relied on institutional and political supports, often at both ends, and new forms of monopoly in long-distance trade.…”

Section: Introduction: Weapons and Revolutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Weapons of Revolution: Global Merchants and the Arms Trade in South America (1808-1824)

Besseghini

2023

JESB

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article investigates the role that the arms trade connected to Hispanic American Independence Wars played in the transformations at the origins of 19th century globalization. It looks specifically at how arms supplies to governments encouraged the early post-mercantilist development of South American commerce, and some of the domino effects of such development. This turning point in economic history is analyzed through the biographical trajectories of merchants who were well positioned between geopolitics and trade, and who had “imperial” functions without being formally involved in imperialist projects. Business and political correspondence, notarial documents, and customs registers from archives in Europe and the Americas reveal the workings of networks and business affairs of global merchants whose companies were major arms importers in Buenos Aires during the years leading to Chile’s liberation. The threads of John McNeile’s (an important but neglected figure) and David DeForest’s networks hook onto the principal economic and political laboratories of the countries from whence most arms were imported: Great Britain and the United States. They reached Chile and Peru from Buenos Aires and remained crucial to the liberation campaigns, encouraging further commercial expansion along the American Pacific coast and toward Asia, and pioneering financial adventures. Relations between commercial houses active in Hispanic America and Asia reveal British and US transpacific networks and ties between Hispanic American and Asian commerce and economies. The article thus shows how, by bringing together fragmented and scattered sources from both sides of the Atlantic, the significance of the arms trade in South America as a driving force of globalization emerges.

show abstract

Subsidizing the Costs of Loyalty: Lima, Montevideo, and the Making of the Loyalist Río de la Plata, 1810–1814

Bello¹

2023

Hispanic American Historical Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article rereads the history of loyalist Montevideo through the prism of intraimperial fiscal cooperation and redistribution. On the eve of Buenos Aires’ 1810 revolution, Montevideo received close to one million pesos in external fiscal subsidies; such supplements to its meager tax base help account for its loyalism. As Spain proved unable to directly assist loyal Montevideanos, regency appointees and local corporations turned to loyalist authorities and locals in Lima, Peru. Through original archival research in Peru, Spain, and Uruguay, this article gives the first detailed account of the multiple seaborne missions sent from Montevideo to Lima, which by 1814 secured more than a half-million pesos in monetary assistance. These funds not only sustained military and naval campaigns but also assured big and small imperial stakeholders that the system of fiscal transfers that benefited them had not been brought to a complete halt.

show abstract

Fiscal Crises, Forced Loans and Unintended Institutional Consequences in Wartime Buenos Aires, 1800-1820

Cited by 3 publications

References 46 publications

French Merchants in Buenos Aires (1816-1825): Economic Opportunities and Difficulties during the Wars of Independence

French Merchants in Buenos Aires (1816-1825): Economic Opportunities and Difficulties during the Wars of Independence

The Weapons of Revolution: Global Merchants and the Arms Trade in South America (1808-1824)

Subsidizing the Costs of Loyalty: Lima, Montevideo, and the Making of the Loyalist Río de la Plata, 1810–1814

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About