Accounting problems in a slaves sale tierra adentro in the Buenos Aires factory within the framework of the slave’s asiento with England: the case Salinas (1731-1737)

Abstract

The events analyzed in this paper took place in the first part of the 18th century, in the scenario resulting from the signature of the Treaty of Utrecht that put and end to the War of the Spanish Succession. Among other things, in virtue of the series of treaties signed in Utrecht, Spain ceded Gibraltar and Minorca to Great Britain as well as allowed the wished Asiento, the monopoly of slave trading with the Spanish colonies in America that would be managed by the South Sea Company.

On the basis of certain documents available in the Archivo General de Indias (General Archive of the Indies) of Seville that relate to the sale of a party of slaves of the factory that the South Sea Company had in Buenos Aires, this paper describes the accounting treatment for slaves, as well as the strict economic control exerted on the persons in charge of their sale on behalf of the Company. The evidence presented provides valuable information, not only for Accounting History, but also for Economic History in general and, for the history of slave trading in particular.