Economía, rentas y situados en Cartagena de Indias, 1761-1800

Abstract

Based on extensive research of the royal treasury with a concise and detailed methodology, this article shows that the situado which arrived at Cartagena de Indias between 1761 and 1800, although of great importance for the purposes of the military, only had an indirect impact upon the local economy. This analysis is based upon a comparison between the tax revenues most prominent for Cartagena toward the end of the eighteenth century and the situados, as well as the possible repercussions on various levies. The combination of data, graphs, and analysis highlights the symbiosis between the military administration and the local economy, but it also shows how the Cartagena garrison was supported during the closing decades of the century, especially with an increasingly substantial portion of the revenues generation from overseas commerce, which undoubtedly reduced much of the actual impact of the situado on the economic and social life of the city.

NEITHER ABSOLUTISM NOR NEGOTIATION: SPANISH EMPIRE BUILDING AND POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE 18THCENTURY CARIBBEAN

“…Taxes were collected by local officials, so they were not auctioned. As a huge literature has already shown (Kuethe and Inglis 1985; Garavaglia and Grosso 1996; Serrano 2006; Celaya 2010), tax payments could take place several days after items had been recorded. Yet, this issue does not necessarily invalidate the test.…”

“…This paper seeks to contribute to the absolutism vs. bargaining debate and the discussion on Spanish imperial building in two ways. Firstly, it revisits the political economy of Spanish rule in America by reappraising the role that inter-imperial transfers (situados) had in the Caribbean colonial economy (for regional and overall studies, see Marichal and Soto Mantecón 1994;Grafe and Irigoin 2006;Serrano 2006;Marichal 2007;Irigoin and Grafe 2008;Celaya 2010;Marichal and Von Grafestein 2012;Meisel Roca 2012;Von Grafestein 2012;Wasserman 2017). It is now well known that the share of taxes remitted to Madrid was only a small proportion of the total revenues collected across the empire.…”

“…See Meisel (2012), who holds that situados impacted the local market. Serrano (2006), however, using yearly taxes, shows that such an impact is hard to justify for taxes, and situados show the opposite trend over the second half of the century.…”

Reformas para el manejo de las rentas de propios en Santafé de Bogotá, 1791-1809

“…32 Pinto Bernal, 2014. 33 Véase Jara, 1994Marchena, 2002;Serrano Álvarez, 2004;2006a;2006b;Meisel Roca, 2011b;Arévalo Hernández y Rodríguez Salazar, 2011. 34 Véase Rodríguez Salazar, 1987;Díaz Martínez y Pinto Bernal, 2016. 35 Pinto Bernal, 2016.…”

Los oficiales reales de Quito bajo sospecha: el impago del situado y la propuesta de visita de la Caja (1712-1718)

“…Ruigómez y Ramos, 2007. 4 «El situado es, jurídicamente, una ayuda vía depósito de capital, que la Corona española instauró hacia finales del siglo XVI para mantener la defensa de las guarniciones con menos recursos económicos, pero que no será hasta el siglo XVIII cuando alcance su máxima expansión y desarrollo, constituyéndose en un aspecto clave de la defensa de América. Económicamente, el situado es una mera transferencia de capital desde una caja matriz a otra subalterna, mientras que administrativamente, no es más que la aportación fijada obligatoriamente sobre una caja matriz que debe sufragar en todo o en parte las tropas de una guarnición, es decir, su componente humano, … [siendo] el destino último del situado la tropa y su mantenimiento» Serrano, 2006,. 80-81.…”