LA SEDA China EN NUEVA ESPAÑA A PRINCIPIOS DEL SIGLO XVII. UNA MIRADA IMPERIAL EN EL MEMORIAL DE HORACIO LEVANTO

Abstract

This article analyzes the effects generated by the import and consumption of madeja silk from China in the commercial and productive level of Mexico and Spain between 1580 and 1620. The paper questions the traditional image of an Asian trade defined by expensive, manufactured goods, oriented to an elite consumption. Considering the Memorial of Horacio Levanto (1620) and in the context of modern globalization, we propose the hypothesis that Asian trade responded to mass consumption, influencing productive structures in New Spain and Spain herself. Madeja silk from China was one of the main semi-processed goods imported via Acapulco which, as raw material, promoted the development of the Novohispanic textile industry.