Commercial and Family Struggles in the game of Exchanges in the Caribbean. Portuguese merchants, 1580-1640

Abstract

This paper aims to advance in the analysis of the reasons why the most successful commercial model of the first centuries of modernity, developed in the Hispanic Caribbean, got into crisis abruptly within a few years after starting its expansion. A model that produced the most important capital gains in the context of the first world economy, the basis of European capitalism: The most formidable circulation and accumulation of metals in the shortest time: 1580-1620. But it also tries to explain how it faced a very acute crisis, because in just thirty years, and in the immediate aftermath, between 1620-1650, and for reasons beyond its control, this model was liquidated with unexpected celerity.