Abstract

BONIALIAN, Mariano. La Contratación de la China por América Colonial a principios del siglo XVII: La mirada de Francisco Valverde de Mercado, Gobernador de Panamá. Bol. Inst. Hist. Argent. Am. Dr. Emilio Ravignani [online]. 2014, n.40, pp.11-41. ISSN 0524-9767.

This article analyzes the expansion of Asian trade throughout Spanish America in the first years of the 17^th. Century. The main documentary source is the set of reports that Francisco de Valverde (governor of Panamá) sent to the Consejo de Indias. In the first part, a brief review on the evolution of the peninsular legislation applied on the Pacific Ocean Asian trade is presented. Afterwards, the characteristics of the Asian smuggling in the South American space are analyzed. Also, it is emphasized the way in which this Asian smuggling determined the Atlantic trade of Portobelo's fairs. In the last part of the article, is explored the ways by which the contratación de la China was made part of commercial flows in the American Atlantic Ocean, and became an imperial phenomenon. This precise matter turns out to be an unexplored issue, which so far did not deserve attention within the historical colonial studies.

Keywords : Contratación de la China; Mexico; Peru; Portobelo fairs; Francisco de Valverde; 17th. Century.