Las reformas carolinas y los comerciantes extranjeros en España: actitudes y respuestas de las «naciones» a la ofensiva regalista, 1759-1793

Abstract

This paper examines the responses of foreign merchant communities to the Caroline reforms carried out in Spain between 1759 and 1793. In 1700, the so called naciones (foreign communities in Spain) inherited strong corporate privileges from the Spanish Habsburg kings. However, their position progressively deteriorated, especially after the accession of Charles III in 1759. Against the backdrop of dramatic cuts in their privileges, the naciones adapted themselves to the new circumstances in different ways: a greater flexibility on the part of the Flemish and Irish communities could explain the better adaptation of these groups, whereas the French community decided, as early on as 1700, to adopt a strong institutional defence of their privileges. This eventually proved to be their downfall, as evidenced by their mass expulsion from Spain in 1793. Traditionally this expulsion was linked to the shock caused by the French Revolution in Spain. However, there had been a political line drawn between Caroline reformers and Spanish policymakers on the need to clarify the privileges of all foreign merchants in Spain dating back to 1759. The reforms responded to the traditional pressure from the peripheral cities and their concerns regarding foreign competition. However, as this paper suggests, these reforms also surpassed the limits of commercial activity by becoming a key element in the transformation of the old political framework of relations between the Spanish king and the naciones . This model definitively went into crisis giving way to a new concept of «the foreigner» as an individual.