Spain’s American Trade, 1700–1707

Abstract

The publication in November 1700 of the will of the heirless Charles II, which left the Spanish Crown to Philip, Duke of Anjou, was an event which delighted Louis XIV of France. During the later part of the seventeenth century Louis’ policies of aggression towards Spanish interests in Europe and America had several times flared up into open warfare, and the uneasy Peace of Ryswick in 1697 had signified no genuine change of heart on the part of the French monarch. However, news that his grandson had inherited the Spanish throne caused Louis to change his tactics almost overnight. France straightaway took upon herself the role of the friend and protector of Spain, and Louis was confident that at long last his neighbour’s vast overseas Empire had now truly fallen into his lap. The English and Dutch, on the other hand, quickly realised that the much feared family connection between the Crowns of France and Spain brought with it a serious threat to their own Spanish trade — both the legitimate trade with Old Spain and the contraband in the Indies.