De las Juntas de Comercio al Consulado. Los comerciantes rioplatenses y sus estrategias corporativas, 1779-1794

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the economic objectives of rioplatense merchants during the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the strategies they used to achieve them. The main points of this analyzes are the Juntas de Comercio, as scenario of collective negotiation where the merchants defended their interests, and the reasons which triggered their transformation in the Consulado of Buenos Aires in 1794. Must have petitioned for the Consulado as a consequence of their need to widen their jurisdictional benefits and to protect their privileged position threatened by other power sectors such as the landowners corporation and the Consulado of Lima’s merchants.