México: De epicentro a periferia. La desintegración del modelo semiinformal del comercio hispanoamericano (1750-1840)

Abstract

This article seeks to identify the causes that, in the late 18th century, brought about the disintegration of the commercial system that had placed Mexico and its Pacific coast at the center of world trade from 1580 to 1750. First it describes the central elements of the imperial trade system centered on New Spain. It then analyzes the reasons for the decline of the Pacific coast as a free, autonomous space, arguing that the cape Horn route that Spain adopted in 1750 was the coup de grace for the inter-oceanic route across New Spain, from Acapulco through Mexico city to Veracruz. It also argues that the contraction of this overland route lasted until the rise of the Mexican state. It concludes by suggesting that the revolution in trade and consumption in the Atlantic, as caused by European expansion in the Pacific, brought about the loss of Mexico’s centrality in global trade and its subsequent marginalization.