Arms for the Indies. The problem of weapons supply and colonial defense during the reign of Charles II

Abstract

This article deals with the problem of replacing portable firearms, artillery and ammunition in the Indies during the rule of Charles II – an issue that wasn’t always easily resolved nor frequently dispatched in a rapid or efficient manner. A monarchy in full decline had to ingeniously manage and pace the demands from overseas territories with those of the different European and North-African frontiers. The task was not an easy one since the debates regarding the remission of arms and the ammunition necessary to use them, went beyond the scope of the Council of the Indies and the War Board of the Indies, and ended up being matters of consideration at the Council of War (and the Council of State), especially during years of war in Europe. In order to reach some conclusions, it was therefore necessary to analyse documentation at the Archivo de Indias (Seville), the Archivo General de Simancas (Valladolid) and the Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid). In conclusion, during the reign of the last Habsburg monarch, economic difficulties enormously hindered the normal and correct functioning of the arms and ammunitions factories of the Monarchy, which habitually contracted production through the asiento system. As a result, the remission of weapons to America would suffer continuous delays, without taking into consideration the possibility of the Viceroyalties, themselves, contributing to the production and distribution of arms.