Abstract
During the colonial period, Mexico City was the most populated settlement in the New World, exceeding one hundred thousand inhabitants by the 18th century. Because of its high populace and its purchasing power, in addition to being the seat of the viceregal government, home to key financial institutions–the Royal Treasury, Mint, and the Consulado de Comerciantes (Mexico City Merchant Guild), and the wealthiest archbishopric in North America, Mexico City was New Spain’s financial center. This chapter examines Mexico City’s role as a financial center, the credit activities of merchants and religious institutions–convents, chaplaincies, brotherhoods, and the Holy Inquisition–and of the two credit institutions that began operating in the final decades of the 18th century: the Monte de Piedad (pawnshop) in 1775, and the Banco de Avío Minero (mining-development bank) in 1784.
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