Casa de Contratación Established in Seville
The Casa de Contratación was established at Seville in 1503 to control every aspect of Spain's trade with the Indies. Its powers were comprehensive. Every ship sailing to or from the Americas had to depart from and return to Seville; every cargo was registered and taxed there; every emigrant was licensed by it; and it collected the quinto real, the crown's fifth of all bullion. The monopoly was deliberate. Concentrating the trade in one inland river port made it possible to tax, to police and to keep foreigners and Protestants out, and Seville grew into one of the largest cities in Europe on the strength of it. Its other function was scientific. The Casa trained and examined pilots, licensed them, and maintained the padrón real — the master chart of the known world, revised as each returning navigator's observations came in, which every ship's chart had to be copied from. Amerigo Vespucci was its first piloto mayor from 1508. Sebastian Cabot held the post for decades. It became, in effect, the first state institution for the systematic collection of geographical data, and its charts were among the most closely guarded secrets in Europe. The fleet system it administered, the flota, sailed in convoy twice a year with naval escort after the 1560s to defend against corsairs, and was remarkably successful — very few whole fleets were ever taken. The monopoly also strangled Spanish manufacturing, encouraged smuggling and made the crown dependent on bullion. It moved to Cádiz in 1717 and was abolished in 1790.
- Year: 1503 CE
- Category: Economic
