The Atlantic traffic of Guayaquil cocoa: Changes in the Trans-imperial Trade Connections of the Viceroyalty of Peru in the Second Half of the 17th Century

Abstract

During the second half of the 17^th century, profound changes took place in the viceroyalty of Peru, both politically and in the fiscal and commercial sphere. Through the study of the case of the corregidor of Guayaquil, Don Gaspar de Argandoña, in the 1670s, this investigation will demonstrate that there was a gear between the business of the members of the peninsular administration linked to America and the commercial operations of American officials, which modified the American metropolitan policies decided in the court of Madrid. Along the way, the businesses of this corregidor revealed that new circuits had emerged and more products had been added to the Atlantic exchange, all directly linked to the slave trade route in the Caribbean.