¿Comerciantes o especuladores de metal? Las elites mercantiles de Cartagena de Indias a principios y finales del periodo colonial.

Abstract

This article aims at leading the debate around the paper performed by the trade elites of Cartagena during most of the colonial period. To this end it is necessary to update our ideas about what is commonly refer to as “trading groups” in theories of Cartagena economy and exchanges with other seaports of the Spanish monopoly world. Furthermore, it is of great interest the line of research here proposed since we are trying to consolidate the academic discussion on the speculative tendencies of the merchant elites when dealing with the trading of precious metals and the strategic geographical location that allow them to influence decisively over this costly exchange.