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The emergence of Montevideo as an Atlantic port: the political economy of a trans-imperial hub

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2020

Fabricio Prado Open the ORCID record for Fabricio Prado [Opens in a new window]
Fabricio Prado*
Affiliation:
Department of History, William & Mary, 250 James Blair Drive, Williamsburg, VA, USA23185
*
*Corresponding author. Email: fpprado@wm.edu
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Abstract

In the late eighteenth century, Montevideo evolved from a small colonial town dependent on Buenos Aires into the main Atlantic port in the region. Networks connecting Montevideo to Luso-Brazilian merchants turned Montevideo into a hub for trans-imperial trade. Between 1778 and 1810, thousands of Spanish and foreign ships entered the port of Montevideo. As a result, although economically dependent on Buenos Aires’ commercial community, Montevideo merchants and authorities managed to use their privileged port, newly created institutions and trans-imperial networks to advance the city's commercial and political role within the estuary. The emergence of Montevideo as an Atlantic port city with global connections was not an isolated event, but a part of a broader process of growing global trade and political transformation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 518 - 532
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.

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Footnotes

†

This article is part of a larger research project on trans-imperial networks in the Atlantic world. See F. Prado, Edge of Empire: Atlantic Networks and Revolution in Bourbon Rio de la Plata (Berkeley, 2015).

References

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9 For more on Cipriano de Melo and his role in Montevideo's community, see Prado, Edge of Empire, 131–52.

10 Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (AHU) Rio de Janeiro (RJ), D. 9198, Ofício do [vice-rei do Estado do Brasil], marquês do Lavradio, [D. Luís de Almeida Portugal Soares de Alarcão Eça e Melo Silva e Mascarenhas], ao [secretário de estado da Marinha e Ultramar], Martinho de Melo e Castro, 24 Sep. 1778. Although the ships are Spanish, the sources record the names using Portuguese spellings.

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12 The exchange rate for this period: 1 peso = 1 dollar = $750 réis.

13 AHU RJ, D. 9294, Ofício do [vice-rei do Estado do Brasil], Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, ao [secretário de estado da Marinha e Ultramar], Martinho de Melo Castro, 30 Mar. 1780.

14 Ibid.

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17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

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22 AHU RJ, D.13319, Ofício do [vice-rei do Estado do Brasil], conde de Resende, [D. José Luís de Castro], ao [secretário de estado da Marinha e Ultramar], D. Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, 8 Jan. 1800.

23 Ibid.

24 AGI, Buenos Aires – Códice 346, Representacion del Sindico Procurador de la Junta de Gobierno del Real Consulado, Manuel Belgrano para el Secretario de Estado, 30 Apr. 1798.

25 For a detailed analysis of the slave trade in Rio de la Plata, see Borucki, A., ‘The slave trade to the Rıo de la Plata, 1777–1812: trans-imperial networks and Atlantic warfare’, Colonial Latin American Review, 20 (2011) 81–107CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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27 For the sale of British products in Montevideo after the invasion, and the profit of Montevidean merchants, see John Carter Brown Library, C810 R278d, José da Silva Lisboa, Razões dos lavradores do vice-reynado de Buenos Ayres para a franqueza do comércio com os inglezes contra a representação de alguns comerciantes e resolução do governo com o appendice de observações e exame dos efeitos do novo regulamento dos interesses comerciais do Brazil (Impressão Régia, 1810).

28 AHU RJ, D.11714, Ofício (cópia) do [vice-rei de Estado do Brasil], conde de Resende, [D. José Luís de Castro] ao [secretário de estado dos Negócios Estrangeiros e da Guerra e interino da Marinha e Ultramar], Luís Pinto de Sousa [Coutinho], 17 Jul. 1795.

29 Archivo General de la Nación (AGN)-Montevideo, Protocolos de Marina – Registro de Protocolizaciones, 1803–09.

30 AGN-Montevideo, Protocolos de Marina – Fianzas y Protocolizaciones, 1805–09.

31 Ibid.

32 Bentancur, El puerto, 42–5.

33 AGI, Buenos Aires Gobierno Leg 346 – Sindico Procurador de la Junta de Gobierno del Real Consulado, Manuel Belgrano to the Secretary of State, 3 Mar. 1798.

34 AGI, Buenos Aires Gobierno Leg 346 – Petición de Manoel Belgrano, 30 Apr. 1798.

35 AGI, Buenos Aires Gobierno Leg 346 – Testimonio de Josef de Escalada, 27 Feb. 1797.

36 Ibid.

37 AGI, Buenos Aires Gobierno Leg 346 – Representation of the Sindico Procurador de la Junta de Gobierno del Real Consulado, Manuel Belgrano to the Secretary of State, 23 [I] 17[97–8].

38 AGI, Buenos Aires Gobierno Leg 346 – Oficio of the Sindico Procurador de la Junta de Gobierno del Real Consulado, Manuel Belgrano to the Secretary of State, 13 [Jan.] 1798.

39 Ibid.

40 AGN, Montevideo, Actas y Acuerdos del Consulado de Montevideo, 1–13.

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