Abstract

VANEGAS BELTRAN, MURIEL; SOLANO D., SERGIO PAOLO  and  FLOREZ BOLIVAR, ROICER. Elites and Colonial Power: Merchants and Cabildo in Cartagena de Indias, 1750-1810. memorias [online]. 2020, n.42, pp.44-74.  Epub Oct 28, 2021. ISSN 1794-8886.  https://doi.org/10.14482/memor.42.986.114.

This article analyzes the relation between the big merchants and the Cabildo of Cartagena during the years between 1750 and 1810. To answer this question we took into account the analysis of the archival information that allowed us to recognize that it was based on last quarter of the 18th century when merchants showed a growing interest in controlling the Cabildo and in creating institutions of power (Consulate of Commerce) to defend their interests and take better advantage of the economic opportunities that the city began to offer (growth in the number of inhabitants; strengthening of the economy, thanks to the money invested in the defensive systems of the city, since the commercial policies of the crown improved the opportunities for commercial traffic). For this, the presence of different social groups in the Cabildo, the resistance to occupy those positions, and the numerical predominance of the councilors designated (Annually) by the higher authorities to occupy the regidurías for a few years are analyzed. Secondly, to the merchants as a specific socio-occupational group, with their interests and internal conflicts, placing the emphasis on their continuous renewal, their links with Spanish commerce, the privileges that accrued from it, and the resistance to approach in Cartagena, and, therefore, impediments to positions in the municipal administration. Third, the factors that determined that the merchants made a growing and majority presence in the Cabildo since the late 1770s, making it a bastion for the defense of their interests against other city administration institutions. And, finally, the presence of young lawyers, sons of merchants in the Cabildo, which reinforced, with the help of the creation of the Consulate of Commerce (1795), the dominance of traffickers over the city, allowing them to have privileges and face other political, economic and social powers and in a best way.

Keywords : Merchants; cabildo; aldermen; Cartagena de Indias; century XVIII.

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