RT Book, Section
T1 Chapter 6. Implementing the Asiento and Smuggling: A Perspective from the Isthmus of Panama and Pacific South America
A1 García Montón, Alejandro
K1 ArtEmpire research project
K1 Spanish America
K1 Panama
K1 Early Modern History
K1 Slave Trade
K1 Atlantic History
K1 Peru
K1 Pacific South America
K1 Genoese Merchants
K1 Asiento de Esclavos
K1 17th century
K1 Proyecto ArtEmpire
AB This chapter adopts an intra-imperial, Spanish American perspective to understand how Domenico Grillo's factors operated this new monopolistic asiento trade on the ground. It focuses on the Isthmus of Panama and Pacific South America, the most coveted trading areas for the company and where most African captives were brought. The chapter examines the unprecedented privileges wielded by the company's factors, which triggered the fierce opposition of local players, including other slave traders, tax-farmers, and political leaders. It shows that Grillo's factors expanded the company's reach by challenging the privileges of the Sevillian and Lima consulados, smuggling and venturing into trading areas that exceeded the limits of the asiento charter, like Peru. Yet, these pages show in detail that Grillo's factors could only enter these trading spheres with the cooperation of other Spanish American merchants, middlemen, and political authorities who rapidly started to benefit from the asiento trade. These processes heralded future dynamics of competition and collaboration between other asiento companies and local players. The collective and disputed construction of the asiento trade on the ground bolstered a solid commercial and relational space linking the Spanish Indies to other empires in the Atlantic world and global trade circuits.
PB Routledge
SN 9781032150345
YR 2021
FD 2021-11
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10433/11289
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10433/11289
LA en
NO García-Montón, Alejandro, Genoese Entrepreneurship and the Asiento Slave Trade, 1650-1700
NO Research for this chapter has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 and innovation programme, grant agreement ERC CoG 648535.
NO Departamento de Geografía, Historia y Filosofía -  Área de Historia Moderna
DS RIO
RD May 7, 2026