lis. It was
forbidden to exercise the trades of dyer, fuller, weaver, shoemaker or
hatter, and the natives were compelled to buy of the Spaniards even the
stuffs they wore on their backs. Another ordinance prohibited the
cultivation of the vine and the olive except in Peru and Chili, and even
these provinces might not send their oil and wine to Panama, Gautemala
or any other place which could be supplied from Spain.[7] To maintain
the commercial monopoly, legitimate ports of entry in Spanish America
were made few and far apart--for Mexico, Vera Cruz, for New Granada, the
town of Cartagena. The islands and most of the other provinces were
supplied by uncertain "vaisseaux de registre," while Peru and Chili,
finding all direct commerce by the Pacific or South Sea interdicted,
were obliged to resort to the fever-ridden town of Porto Bello, where
the mortality was enormous and the prices increased tenfold.

In Spain, likewise, the colonial commerce was restricted to one
port--Seville. For in the estimation of the crown it was much more
important to avoid being defrauded of its dues on import and export,
than to permit the natural development of trade by those towns best
fitted to acquire it. Another reason, prior in point of time perhaps,
why Seville was chosen as the port for American trade, was that the
Indies were regarded as the exclusive appanage of the crown of Castile,
and of that realm Seville was then the chief mercantile city. It was not
a suitable port, however, to be distinguished by so high a privilege.
Only ships of less than 200 tons were able to cross the bar of San
Lucar, and goods therefore had to be transhipped--a disability which was
soon felt when traffic and vessels became heavier.[8] The fact,
nevertheless, that the official organization called the _Casa de
Contratacion_ was seated in Seville, together with the influence of the
vested interests of the merchants whose prosperity depended upon the
retention of that city as the one port for Indian commerce, were
sufficient to bear down all opposition. The maritime towns of Galicia
and Asturia, inhabited by better seamen and stronger races, often
protested, and sometimes succeeded in obtaining a small share of the
lucrative trade.[9] But Seville retained its primacy until 1717, in
which year the _Contratacion_ was transferred to Cadiz.

The administration of the complex rules governing the commerce between
Spain and her colonies was entrusted to two insti