Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789 by Stanley J. Stein, Barbara H. Stein, Robert H. Bogdan

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Synopsis

Once Europe's supreme maritime power, Spain was facing fierce competition fromEngland and France on the Atlantic by the mid eighteenth century. Further, its efforts to reconstruct its metropolitan economy and create an effective "colonial impact" with its American colonies were seriously stalled. In Apogee of Empire, Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein continue the analysis begun in their acclaimed book Silver, Trade, and War, arguing that the ultimate failure of this policy lay in Spain's reluctance to undertake radical changes in its relationship with its colonies. The authors trace the resistance to reform measures undertaken in the homeland during the early 1760s; then they review the shift in focus to the colonies and the attempt to broaden, however cautiously, Spain's transatlantic trade system, especially with New Spain, through so-called free-trade within the imperial system. The policy of comercio libre, like Bourbon reformism in general, neither realized a colonial pact, nor improved Spain's competitive position in the Atlantic trading system; neither did it strengthen Spain's alliance with France. By the death of Charles III, the authors conclude, Spain had made superficial changes rather than profound transformation the situation demanded. The problems were too deeply entrenched to be solved through half-hearted measures, and by 1789 Spain and its wealthiest colony, New Spain, would find themselves ill prepared for the coming decades of upheaval in Europe and America. learned vantage point. They have made valuable and unique contributions to the understanding of the Spanish trade policy in the eighteenth century." John Jay TePaske, Duke University

AUTHOR BIO: Stanley J. Stein is the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor in Spanish Culture and Civilization, emeritus, at Princeton University. His publications include Vassouras: A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850 1900 and (with Roberto Crotes Conde) Latin America: A Guide to Economic History, 1830 1930. Barbara H. Stein is an independent historian and former bibliographer for Latin America, Spain, and Portugal at Princeton University's Firestone Library. The authors previously collaborated on The Colonial Heritage of Latin America and Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe, the latter available from Johns Hopkins.

Biography

Stanley J. Stein is the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor in Spanish Culture and Civilization, emeritus, at Princeton University. His publications include Vassouras: A Brazilian Coffee County, 1850—1900 and (with Roberto Crotes Conde) Latin America: A Guide to Economic History, 1830—1930. Barbara H. Stein is an independent historian and former bibliographer for Latin America, Spain, and Portugal at Princeton University's Firestone Library. The authors previously collaborated on The Colonial Heritage of Latin America and Silver, Trade, and War: Spain and America in the Making of Early Modern Europe, the latter available from Johns Hopkins.