User:AMaur22/sandbox

Military Reform

Increased conflicts in the New World among European powers, such as in the case of the Seven Year's War, as well as conflicts with indigenous groups, created the need for standing armies in Spanish America in the 18th century.

The number of soldiers in Spanish America increased steadily throughout the 1700s, reaching 29,000 by the end of the century, which the Spanish Crown spent about 20 million pesos in 1790 to maintain. The 18th century also saw the construction of new missions, forts, and garrisons throughout Spanish America, notably in present-day New Mexico and Arizona in response to the Pueblo revolt and French incursions, as well as in Havana, Cartagena, and many more locations.

War and Treaties Related to Reform (various edits)


 * {known as the War of the Spanish Succession}, which lasted from 1702 to 1713 and pitted Portugal, England, and other European countries against the French House of Bourbon.


 * Under the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of Spanish Succession and put Philip V securely on the Spanish throne, {the new French dynasty had to surrender...}


 * called an asiento, or a type of trade permit.


 * called the Bourbon Reforms


 * First, under the 1750 Treaty of Madrid, which orchestrated a land exchange between Spain and Portugal in South America, Spain's intention to give Portugal territory containing a total of seven Jesuit missions sparked intense Jesuit resistance, and war between Spain and Portugal broke out in 1762.

Silver

{Tax reductions were given to the silver mining industry} ...as part of the Crown's attempts to stimulate silver production, which had plummeted throughout Spanish America at the beginning of the 1700s. Spain relied heavily on the silver industry for tax revenue, particularly on the mines at Potosí in the Andes. In 1736, the Crown reduced the tax on silver from one-fifth to one-tenth in order to encourage silver production to be reported. Over the course of the 18th century, the market for silver led the port city of Buenos Aires to prominence, and between 1776 and 1783, 80% of the exports leaving the port at Buenos Aires were shipments of silver.

Trade

An important goal of the Bourbon Reforms was to increase legal, registered trade with Spanish America in order to collect more tax revenue for the Crown, an aim that had previously been undercut both by the prevalence of contraband and the increasing presence of foreign merchants. Furthermore, the Spanish War of Succession had culminated in 1713 with the Treaty of Utrecht, which conceded new trading rights with Spanish America to the English via the asiento, most notably related to the slave trade. Consequently, the Bourbons, with the help of administrator José Patiño, implemented several new strategies aimed at streamlining the production and importation of Spanish American goods to Spain. One such strategy that proved highly profitable was the establishment of royal monopolies and trading companies as early as 1717 that controlled the production of export crops such as tobacco and sugar in Cuba and cacao in Venezuela. During the 1750s, the royal monopoly on Cuban tobacco generated a profit of more than 500 million pesos. In addition to changes to production, the nature of trade under the Bourbons, especially after 1740, also shifted – away from the Habsburg fleet system for shipping, which had many inefficiencies and was vulnerable to attack, and towards a single-ship system, which was more competitive with foreign merchants and opened up more Spanish American ports to transatlantic trade.