Nearly half a century after Spanish quasi-mercenaries (conquistadors) invaded the Americas, other European powers started getting in on the act. Privateers raided Spanish ships laden with valuable cargo and, once the mines at Potosí and Zacatecas got going, silver. These were crucially important goods for the crown’s coffers, so starting in the mid-sixteenth century, they developed a convoy system, which lasted most of the colonial period. Enormous convoys of trade galleons protected by royal ships sailed the Atlantic once or twice per year on two different convoy lines: 1.) Seville to Veracruz 2.) Seville and Portobelo (where goods continued on to Peru). The fleets then loaded up silver and treasures from the Americas, rendezvoused in Havana, and sailed back to Seville. In theory, this allowed goods to cross the Atlantic unmolested (and also avoid treasure ships getting caught in hurricane season). Trade was organized, regulated, and taxed. Merchant families developed extensive information and patronage networks to ensure that their goods were on the convoys and that only a few ports would host the galleons or trade directly with Spain. Convoys did not run between any other cities (other than the Pacific galleon run). Merchants needed specific licenses to trade on the galleons. Overall, the convoy system was remarkably effective at protecting the main bulk of Spanish shipping, only falling victim to the occasional privateering raid or unexpected hurricane.

Yet…..what about the famous pirates of the Caribbean? Who were they attacking if they weren’t attacking with the Spanish galleons? If trade was restricted, why would Spain have ports other than Portobelo, Veracruz, Acapulco, Havana, and Seville if they didn’t need them?

People seem to have vastly exaggerated how closed to trade the Spanish empire actually was. Historians were so fixated on a (false) narrative of Spanish cruelty, dogma, and decline caused by their obsession with precious metals, mercantilism, and Catholicism that they missed the economic diversity and vibrancy that made the Spanish Empire work. The convoy system never at any point made it so there was not trade between other ports. The reality is that there were hundreds and hundreds of smaller vessels that were coming and going out of all Spanish American ports throughout the colonial period. These included small supply vessels, merchant ships, small single-masted schooner-type ships, fishing vessels, slave ships, coast guard vessels, and mail ships. There were probably thousands of smaller canoes plying the coasts, harbors, and rivers as well.

They used the comings and goings of their official missions or their jobs as ways to trade with different ports, to bring news and information, to get supplies, and to move. The constant maritime sailings allowed massive amounts of off-the-books trade, which happened away from the eyes of Spanish port authorities. This was even easier done along desolate shores or out at sea, where goods could be exchanged duty free. Also, ships could call at any harbor, even foreign ones, if they claimed that they had been damaged by a storm or needed supplies, a loophole that they used to trade in “closed” ports. After natural disasters, governors sometimes opened ports to all vessels in an effort to get food and much needed materials, which provided other trading opportunities. Officials generally tolerated some level of contraband trade, and many participated in it themselves, as long as it stayed within the local, unwritten, “customary” amount. In fact, the reason we know about the frequency of illicit trades is because people denounced others for corruption and contraband trade when they thought someone stepped over the line of what was acceptable in the community. Most of these trades were never reported, so we don’t have hard numbers on the frequency they occurred. Nevertheless, what was obvious was that maritime and smuggling cultures developed nearly everywhere, and many people found it easy to move around the empire.

Furthermore, not all trade happened at sea; huge flows of goods traveled overland. Guatemala, Oaxaca, Central Mexico, and the Bajío (Querétaro and other areas to the north) supplied New Spain’s mines with the materials they needed to feed and clothe the workers in the mines. Flows of goods traveled across the Río de la Plata to Potosí, which gradually developed the cities of modern-day northern Argentina and Paraguay. Goods moved by muleteers or on the backs of indigenous porters or canoeists. Overland and riverine traders traveled on indigenous trade routes that predated Spanish invasions, which now connected colonial cities. Plus, a lot of production and trade was very localized. Food and goods were generally produced and consumed in the same towns or by the same families that produced it. Farming was generally not monoculture agriculture, so there were a variety of crops being grown at a time, which were sold in local markets. Spanish missions and haciendas were often relatively self-sustaining.

Therefore, trade restrictions may have existed in theory, but they didn’t really reflect the lived experience of people. People found ways to get what they needed and wanted. As a result, the Spanish Empire became a nexus of local and world trade. Their trading networks scattered Asian goods in New Spain, Guatemala, and Peru; American silver all over Asia; Venezuelan pearls all over Northern Europe; European manufactured goods all over the Americas; Colombian emeralds in India and Persia; American foods, delights, and medicines all over the Western Hemisphere; and African and indigenous slaves all around the Atlantic World.