A Hydra of Business and Men: The Habsburg Asiento de Negros in Structuring the European Transatlantic Slave Trade / Cátia Antunes, Alejandro García-Montón, Elisabeth Heijmans, Gerhard de Kok, Susana Münch Miranda, Edgar Pereira, João Paulo

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Antunes, Cátia A.P., author.

García-Montón, Alejandro, author.

Heijmans, Elisabeth, author.

Kok, Gerhard de, author.

Miranda, Susana Münch, author.

Pereira, Edgar, author.

Salvado, João Paulo, author.

Svalastog, Julie, author.

Series:

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books Online, Collection 2025.

Library of Economic History ; 21.

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books Online, Collection 2025

Library of Economic History ; 21

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American Studies.

Early Modern History.

Economic history.

History.

Latin America.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (218 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2026.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book offers a historical and historiographical analysis of the Spanish asiento de negros , a contract between the Spanish Monarchy and private parties to introduce specific number of enslaved Africans to Spanish America. As the Spanish American market was the largest single market for enslaved people prior to 1720, studying this colonial contract is essential for understanding the development of the most significant colonial contract of the long 17th century. The asiento framed the European transatlantic slave trade for nearly two centuries and shaped much of the political economy of the Spanish Atlantic empire. This book is unique in providing the first comprehensive study of the asiento since George Scelle’s 1906 work ( La traite négrière aux Indes de Castille. Contracts et traités d’assiento , 2 vols.). Unlike Scelle, who focused on legal frameworks and presented the monarchy’s perspective, this book examines the asientistas themselves, offering insights into their business decisions and organizations. It concentrates on the period that gave rise to the idea of an asiento and the Habsburg-era asientos (1595–1713), preceding the so-called Bourbon reforms.

Contents:

Contents

List of Tables

Introduction

1 Direct Management of the ‘Portuguese’ Asientos

1 The Lead up to the ‘Portuguese’ Asientos

2 Asientos de Negros : The Standard Contractual Provisions

3 The Organisation and Implementation of the Asientos

4 Costs and Benefits of the Asientos

5 Conclusion

2 Indirect Management of the Asiento

1 Changing the Rules of the Game: The 1662 Asiento

2 Re-orchestrating the Trade

2.1 Organising the Asiento from Europe

2.2 The Trade from Africa

2.3 The American Networks and the Colonial Markets

3 Conclusion

3 Outsourcing: A Chartered Privileged Approach to the Asiento

1 A Smoking Screen: Sir Martin Noell and the Negotiations with the Asiento

2 Martin Noell and Alexander Bence in Amsterdam

3 The Terms of the First Contract and the Deployment of the Asiento

4 Contracting the Company of Royal Adventurers into Africa

5 Competing for Enslaved Labour: A View from the English Caribbean

6 Conclusion

4 Outsourcing: A Joint-Stock Approach to the Asiento

1 The WIC: A Joint Stock Company

2 The WIC: The Provisions of the Asiento and Curaçao

3 Outsourcing the Slave Trade to a Joint-Stock Company

4 The wic and the Asiento

5 Amsterdam Merchant Networks and the Asiento

6 Routes and Procedures

7 Illicit Trade and the Asiento

8 Conclusion

5 Deaths and Debts: The Zenith of Indirect Management?

1 Old Solutions to New Problems

2 New Names to Old Solutions

3 The Shortcoming of Indirect Management

4 The Definite Failure of Indirect Management

6 Credible Asentista : Moving Away from Intermediaries

1 Aligning Interests before the Asiento of 1696

2 Partners and Capital

3 The Asiento under the Companhia Da Guiné

4 The Dissolution of the Portuguese Asiento

7 Royal Shareholders: The End of an Era

1 The Negotiation Process and the Content of the Contract

2 The Late Establishment of the Compagnie De L’asiento

3 Licensing and Contracting

4 Costs and Gains of the Asiento

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-74509-2

9789004745094

OCLC:

1559217899

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004745094 DOI