The 250 years covered by Silver, Trade, and War marked the era of
commercial capitalism, that bridge between late medieval and modern
times. Spain, peripheral to western Europe in 1500, produced
American treasure in silver, which Spanish convoys bore from
Portobelo and Veracruz on the Carribbean coast across the Atlantic
to Spain in exchange for European goods shipped from Sevilla
(later, Cadiz). Spanish colonialism, the authors suggest, was the
cutting edge of the early global economy. America's silver
permitted Spain to graft early capitalistic elements onto its late
medieval structures, reinforcing its patrimonialism and
dynasticism. However, the authors argue, silver gave Spain an
illusion of wealth, security, and hegemony, while its system of
"managed" transatlantic trade failed to monitor silver flows that
were beyond the control of government officials. While Spain's
intervention buttressed Hapsburg efforts at hegemony in Europe, it
induced the formation of protonationalist state formations, notably
in England and France. The treaty of Utrecht (1714) emphasized the
lag between developing England and France, and stagnating Spain,
and the persistence of Spain's late medieval structures. These were
basic elements of what the authors term Spain's Hapsburg "legacy."
Over the first half of the eighteenth century, Spain under the
Bourbons tried to contain expansionist France and England in the
Caribbean and to formulate and implement policies competitors
seemed to apply successfully to their overseas possessions, namely,
a colonial compact. Spain's policy planners (proyectistas) scanned
abroad for models of modernization adaptable to Spain and its
American colonies without riskinginstitutional change. The second
part of the book, "Toward a Spanish-Bourbon Paradigm," analyzes the
projectors' works and their minimal impact in the context of the
changing Atlantic scene until 1759. By then, despite its efforts,
Spain could no longer compete successfully with England and France
in the international economy. Throughout the book a colonial rather
than metropolitan prism informs the authors' interpretation of the
major themes examined.
Silver, Trade, and War is about men and markets, national
rivalries, diplomacy and conflict, and the advancement or
stagnation of states.
General
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