Globalisation, Market Formation and Commoditisation in the Spanish Empire. Consumer Demand for Asian Goods in Mexico City and Seville, C. 1571-1630

Gasch-Tomás, José L.

doi:10.1017/s021261091400010x

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Since demand factors did not differ significantly from each other, we may assume that supply factors were more important. As claimed by Gasch-Tomás (2014), transportation costs were higher in Spain because Asian goods arrived mostly—smuggling apart—through intra-imperial trade via Manila-Acapulco-Veracruz-Seville or Cádiz. This was so from the late 16 th century until the second half of the 18 th century.…”

Section: Why Commoners Could Participate In the 18th-century Consumer...mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Gasch-Tomás (2014, p. 210) has made a significant contribution by estimating, for 1580-1630, an econometric model in which the value of Asian goods in probate inventories of elites from Mexico City and Seville significantly responded, especially in the latter town, to non-commercial networks (e.g. seamen aboard the « Carrera de Indias » and relatives of the recipients residing in the Americas and the Philippines).…”

Section: Evidence On the Early Consumer Revolution In New Spainmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly enough, the diffusion of «exotic» goods was comparatively limited and late in the capital of the Spanish Empire. For 1580-1630, Gash Tomás (2014, p. 202) states that « Asian goods c irculated more widely in American than in Castilian territories ». Fernández de Pinedo (2018) finds that, by mid-18 th -century Madrid, the consumption of Asian goods (mainly porcelain) was limited to the elite and the upper classes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18^TH-CENTURY MEXICO

Dobado,

de Pinedo

2023

RHE / JILAEH

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Was there an early consumer revolution in Hispanic America? This article presents varied evidence supporting an affirmative answer to this question, especially regarding the case of New Spain. The inauguration of the Manilla Galleon trade route across the Pacific Ocean in 1565 was decisive in this respect. It made it possible that Asian goods (more or less finished silk and cotton textiles, porcelain, lacquerware, ivory religious images, furniture and spices, mainly) experienced an early diffusion throughout New Spain after arriving in Acapulco. This innovation in consumption patterns was adopted first by the elites, not much later, by the intermediate classes and, rather soon than not, by the commoners. Primary (i.e. Avalúos of the galleons' cargo) and secondary sources permit quantitatively exploring the possibilities of consumption of Asian goods by unprivileged segments of New Spain's population. We find that a non-negligible number of those goods were accessible to Mexico City labourers. Thus, it may be inferred that upper segments of society accessed it earlier and more easily. Therefore, New Spain should be included in any global narrative of the changes in consumption during the Early Modern Era.

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Section: Why Commoners Could Participate In the 18th-century Consumer...mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Evidence On the Early Consumer Revolution In New Spainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18^TH-CENTURY MEXICO

Dobado,

de Pinedo

2023

RHE / JILAEH

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“…For example, the elegant library of the Palacio de Minería built between 1797 and 1813 in the historic center of Mexico City can still be visited today for a glimpse at how European fashions influenced what counted as knowledge even multiple decades past the trend's heyday (Acervo Histórico www.mineria.unam.mx). Indeed, the cabinets of Europe frequently contained objects collected or produced in the Americas and East Asia because these novelties were transported in the same ships from Veracruz and included items that had arrived at the Pacific port of Acapulco (Flynn 1996(Flynn , 2017Davids 2011;Bonialian 2012Gasch-Tomás 2014Peterson 2014;Aram 2014). The wunderkammer of Madrid, still on display at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales as the Real Gabinete de Historia Natural, is an example of a nineteenth-century cabinet of curiosities prepared by an enlightenment-era Ecuadorean, Pedro Franco Dávila (1711-1786, who was contracted to gather exotica from across the seas (Arinero 1988;Bleichmar 2021).…”

Section: Notes On Alexandro Favián's Lettersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“A Most Extraordinary Man”: Alexandro Favián’s Letters to Athanasius Kircher, 1661-1674

Marquez¹

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This thesis is an annotated translation of seventeenth century letters composed in early colonial Mexico and posted to Europe by the novohispano Alexandro Favián. An active reader of the German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher’s encyclopedic works about scientific curiosities, Favián wrote eleven letters totaling over one hundred handwritten pages between 1661 and 1672; my annotated translation includes eight of them in their entirety. The letters were sent from Puebla de los Ángeles, near Mexico City, to Rome during the last few decadent years of King Philip IV’s reign and, following his death in 1665, during the regency of his wife Mariana of Austria for their son Charles II. These were years of economic recession for many European states and, for Spain, a period of political uncertainty. For New Spain, after the corrupt viceroy Juan de Leyva y de la Cerda was recalled to Spain for his abuses, a relatively stable viceregal term began with the Marquis of Mancera (r.1664-1673) whose court in Mexico City was famously visited by criollo intellectuals Don Carlos Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700) and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695). Favián’s long-overlooked letters are worthy of study for two main reasons. On the one hand, because they give readers an insight to the trials and tribulations of a cleric of a certain social standing but who, despite the relative wealth and comfort of his upbringing in colonial New Spain, was denied opportunities for professional advancement. The customs and appointment practices of the Spanish empire excluded most non-Europeans from advancing in professional roles which might wield any kind of political influence as the higher church posts did (Arias, 2003). On the other hand, his collection of letters is notable because not only do they discuss books about early modern science, but also describe curious machines such as self-playing organs, binoculars, and geared alarm clocks. Thus, Favián’s correspondence could be read as a fine example of how Kircher’s works were received and used in the Americas. Indeed, the collection of letters suggests that Favián sought to distinguish himself locally, in New Spain, as a collector of scientific materials motivated by educational objectives. This project makes three significant contributions. First, I examine how fluid positionality within a metropole-periphery dynamic was leveraged by colonial writers to negotiate the exchange of scientific ideas and objects with other figures more centrally situated. Second, I offer a case study of reader reception for Kircher’s prolific output. Finally, I make a seventeenth-century colonial author’s words available in English with a scholarly apparatus for the first time. This thesis consists of two main sections: in the first are notes about Favián’s letters and their translation, and in the second are the translations themselves as well as annotations followed by a bibliography.

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Introduction: Global, European and Scandinavian Histories and the East India Trade

Hodacs

2016

Silk and Tea in the North

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Globalisation, Market Formation and Commoditisation in the Spanish Empire. Consumer Demand for Asian Goods in Mexico City and Seville, C. 1571-1630

Cited by 11 publications

References 33 publications

AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18^TH-CENTURY MEXICO

AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18^TH-CENTURY MEXICO

“A Most Extraordinary Man”: Alexandro Favián’s Letters to Athanasius Kircher, 1661-1674

Introduction: Global, European and Scandinavian Histories and the East India Trade

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Globalisation, Market Formation and Commoditisation in the Spanish Empire. Consumer Demand for Asian Goods in Mexico City and Seville, C. 1571-1630

Cited by 11 publications

References 33 publications

AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18TH-CENTURY MEXICO

AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18TH-CENTURY MEXICO

“A Most Extraordinary Man”: Alexandro Favián’s Letters to Athanasius Kircher, 1661-1674

Introduction: Global, European and Scandinavian Histories and the East India Trade

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AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18^TH-CENTURY MEXICO

AN EARLY CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN HISPANIC AMERICA? CONSUMPTION OF ASIAN GOODS BY THE COMMONERS IN 18^TH-CENTURY MEXICO