The Royal Trading Authorities
- Economy
The Feitoria Real da Guiné (Royal Trading Authority of Guinea) was created in 1520, setting up the central power of the kingdom in competition with the current holders of the monopoly of commerce in Guinea. While the inhabitants of Santiago could only trade horses, spirits, cotton from Santiago or cloth (even these would be forbidden), the trading authority, which was dependent on the Casa da Mina, on the Costa do Ouro (current Ghana), reserved for itself the right to also trade in cotton from Fogo, ivory, wax, stonework, metallic objects, metals and the products from the metropolis.
Initially processed in a system of exchanges, from 1550 onwards commerce evolved into letters of exchange, an important step in international commerce, which allowed it to be simplified and to increase. This could be seen later with the appearance of commercial networks, which functioned through representatives at key points such as Seville,Lisbon,Cacheu,Ribeira Grande and Cartagena, who worked in offices, exchanging papers for credits and debits. The commercial societies, generally made up of two partners, one of them providing the capital and staying in one place, the other travelling in order to supervise the merchandise on the ships and the trade in the ports.
In 1529 the kingdom established the Feitoria dos Algodões do Fogo (Fogo Cotton Trading Authority), where production reached 1,500 hundredweight/year, and in 1534 the Feitoria Régia de S. Domingos (Royal Trading Authority of S. Domingos) followed in Guinea, on board a ship, with the aim of starting to control illegal commerce on its rivers by “lançados”, although it did not have much practical effect, once business was growing for everyone.
Thus commerce prospered in Santiago in the 16th and 17th Centuries, depending at this time on an axis of 4 important routes: from Guinea, previously described here, the importance of which can only be understood in the light of the other 3:Portugal (Lisbon),Castille (San Lucar, Seville, Cadiz, Valencia), and later the Route of the Spanish Indes (Santo Domingo, Vera Cruz, San Juan de Ulua, Nombre de Deus – Portobello – Peru and Honduras). Adding the the inter-island Atlantic circuit including the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores, in the precursor of what is currently described as Macaronesia.
The Feitoria Real da Guiné (Royal Trading Authority of Guinea) was created in 1520, setting up the central power of the kingdom in competition with the current holders of the monopoly of commerce in Guinea. While the inhabitants of Santiago could only trade horses, spirits, cotton from Santiago or cloth (even these would be forbidden), the trading authority, which was dependent on the Casa da Mina, on the Costa do Ouro (current Ghana), reserved for itself the right to also trade in cotton from Fogo, ivory, wax, stonework, metallic objects, metals and the products from the metropolis.
Initially processed in a system of exchanges, from 1550 onwards commerce evolved into letters of exchange, an important step in international commerce, which allowed it to be simplified and to increase. This could be seen later with the appearance of commercial networks, which functioned through representatives at key points such as Seville,Lisbon,Cacheu,Ribeira Grande and Cartagena, who worked in offices, exchanging papers for credits and debits. The commercial societies, generally made up of two partners, one of them providing the capital and staying in one place, the other travelling in order to supervise the merchandise on the ships and the trade in the ports.
In 1529 the kingdom established the Feitoria dos Algodões do Fogo (Fogo Cotton Trading Authority), where production reached 1,500 hundredweight/year, and in 1534 the Feitoria Régia de S. Domingos (Royal Trading Authority of S. Domingos) followed in Guinea, on board a ship, with the aim of starting to control illegal commerce on its rivers by “lançados”, although it did not have much practical effect, once business was growing for everyone.
Thus commerce prospered in Santiago in the 16th and 17th Centuries, depending at this time on an axis of 4 important routes: from Guinea, previously described here, the importance of which can only be understood in the light of the other 3:Portugal (Lisbon),Castille (San Lucar, Seville, Cadiz, Valencia), and later the Route of the Spanish Indes (Santo Domingo, Vera Cruz, San Juan de Ulua, Nombre de Deus – Portobello – Peru and Honduras). Adding the the inter-island Atlantic circuit including the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores, in the precursor of what is currently described as Macaronesia.
