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Colonial-Era Spanish Economy

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See also: Spanish Weights and Measures

The economy of the Spanish colonial world was vast, complex, and diverse, including expense and exchange using cash, goods, and labor, and encompassing public and private transactions at a variety of scales. This initial page is just the start of a longer exploration of the Spanish colonial economy.

Accounting / Books

Spanish Colonial Accounting

Spanish colonial treasuries (cajas) were adminstered by Royal Officials including a treasurer (tesorero) and accountant (contador), who managed cash and kept accounts that would subsequently be audited for accuracy.  These detailed audits were normally sent back to Spain, where they form a pivotal part of the economic history of the Spanish colonial world.  Treasury accounts were divided into credits (cargos) and debits (datas), each with itemized entries and tabulated summations at the end.  Amounts were normally recorded both in text and numerical form (see below), permitting cross-checking of figures when handwriting is unclear.  Some of the more important terms found in the account documents are defined below.

Cargo: A credit to an account, including a starting amount and subsequent deposits.
Data: A debit from an account; a payment or expense.
Libranza (also Libramiento): An order to make a specific payment.
Carta de Pago: A receipt certifying that a specific payment has been made.

Accounting Numerals, Columns, and Dividers

Accounting records were kept using a system similar to the modern one, but different in several important ways. As shown below, larger numbers (up to a billion) were tabulated in groups of three digits moving from right to left, but instead of commas separating each grouping (ones, thousands, millions), the first separator (for thousands) was a symbol called a calderón, which frequently looks like an upper case letter U (or sometimes hooked around similar to C or D). The second separator (for millions) was the word cuentos (or quentos), spelled out or abbreviated. In addition, Spanish colonial accountants typically made use of a variant of the Roman numeral system prior to the late 17th century. The numeral symbols and their combinations are shown below, but it should be noted that these are typically rendered in cursive format, making it sometimes difficult to discern which symbol is being used in any given cluster of digits. The column format is usually the best way to interpret difficult script, since accountants normally left spaces or dashes in columns without numerals (the zero was not used).

Examples

AGI CD 877 (1559)

AGI CD 956 (1613)

Colonial Spanish Numerals (variant of Roman numerals)

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Colonial-Era Accounting Books

The books below provide contemporary details about Spanish accounting rules and protocols, which is invaluable for understanding the extensive documentary record of Spanish treasury accounts that contain many details regarding material culture (including prices) and wages. Additional related books on these topics are found on my Material Culture page under the Price Lists and Customs Duties sections.

Spanish Crown
1606    Ordenanzas Reales para el Gouierno de los Tribunales de la Contaduría mayor, que en los Reynos de las Indias, y Ciudades de los Reyes en el Pirú, México, en la Nueua España, Santafé, en el nuevo Reyno de Granada, ha mandado fundar el Rey nuestro señor. Luis Sánchez, Valladolid.

Spanish Crown
1640    Ordenanzas de la Contaduría Mayor de cuentas de su Magestad, de los anos de mil y quinientos y cinquenta y quatro, mil y quinientos y sesenta y nueve, mil y quinientos y noventa y tres, y mil y seiscientos y dos, y las ultimamente hechas por la Cédula de la reformacion de doze de Noviembre del año de mil y seiscientos y veinte y uno. María de Quiñones, Madrid.

Fernández de Rojas, Gabriel
1659    Cartilla de la Contaduría Mayor de Cuentas de Su Magestad. Don Francisco Nieto y Salçedo, Madrid. Other copies here and here.

This informative volume contains printed examples of Spanish handwritten numerals (folios 5v-7v), detailed explanations of arithmetic techniques used by accountants (folios 8r-44r), and comprehensive instructions on how accounts were to be taken and structured (folios 44r-82r).

Ripia, Juan de la
Practica de la administracion, y cobranza de las Rentas Reales, y visita de los ministros, que se ocupan en ellas.
2nd Edition (1694) / 3rd Edition (1715) / 5th Edition (1736) / 6th Edition (1769) / 7th Edition ( V. 1 (1795) / V. 2 (1795) / V. 3 (1796) / V. 4 (1796) / V. 5 (1796) )

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