Spanish American Port Cities

Abstract

Following medieval political traditions, the conquest of America led by the Spanish crown was a highly urbanized enterprise. Cities defined the spaces of colonial America in terms of organization of the territory, control of the population, and the negotiation of political sovereignty on the ground. Early city foundation in the Antilles after 1492 was followed by the major occupation of continental America, when more than two hundred cities were founded over the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, cities in Spanish America became the hub of social integration, moving from ‘Spanish cities’ to what has been labeled ‘creole metropolises.’ During the age of revolution and independence, the late 18th and early 19th centuries, cities played a major role as the seats of national sovereignty. Typically struggles for independence would start with the rising of creole elites in the capital cities of each viceroyalty. Historiography on Spanish American cities has evolved in the last decades from an institutionally driven or urban growth approach to urban experiences, to an exploration of the multiple facets of urban life: commercial, economic, political, social, and cultural. In the renewal of urban history, the study of port cities has gained significance especially—although not exclusively—in connection to their commercial role, contributing thus to the development of new trends on Atlantic, global, and connected histories. Ports were also spaces for scientific development with shipyards and arsenals as main centers of technological innovation. Studies on port cities, however, have not been systematic and are notably disproportionate among regions and periods within the Spanish Atlantic. There are a considerably greater number of studies related to the first half of the 16th century and late 18th century and to the Caribbean and River Plate regions. Acknowledging this imbalance, this article will prioritize a geographical approach by focusing on particular cities within four main regions in the Atlantic—the Greater Antilles, Northern Mainland Caribbean, Southern Mainland Caribbean and the Southern Atlantic and River Plate Region—as a way to address the complexity of port experiences within those regions during different chronologies. A section on Pacific Connections ports is included to underline the connected nature of Spanish American port cities and their global outreach. Although local examples of port cities will be the core of this article, it opens with an updated review on the main urban history literature, with a section on primary sources following, and a general overview of regional or thematic works on ports, to move then to the geographical sections.