“Nobody knows or understands anything…”. The viceroy Conde de Paredes and the governor of the Philippines Juan de Vargas Hurtado in the smuggling of Asian goods, 1680-1686

Abstract

For most of the 17th century, the profitable trade in Asian goods led the silver merchants of Mexico City, in complicity with the viceroys of New Spain and the governors of the Philippines, to weave dense networks of mercantile contraband. In particular, we analyze the way in which the Viceroy Conde de Paredes and the Governor Juan de Vargas Hurtado, with the credit support of the wealthy merchants José de Retes Largacha and Domingo de Leyva Cantabrana, articulated an intricate mesh of illegal contracts involving the Castilians and official royal judges of the ports of Acapulco, Cavite and Manila, the generals and main officers of the galleons, as well as the merchants of Manila, among other officials and agents. We will see how the main Philippine authorities denounced Governor Vargas Hurtado for the excesses he incurred and the monarchy's efforts to try him and find more evidence of the clandestine negotiations carried out by the powerful network.