Intercultural and commercial dynamics: interactions between Indigenous and Spaniards in Spanish colonial America

Abstract

This paper focuses on the complexity of the commercial relationships between Spaniards and Indigenous peoples over the colonial period. In order to accomplish this objective, we will compare the practice on the ground from the 16th to the 18th century with the Medieval and Early Modern theoretical debates about inter-cultural commerce and the differences between rural and urban lifestyles. Likewise, we will analyze the opposition between country and city in the framework of the transfer to America of western thought, which judged cities were centers of civilization able to foster its expansion. This approach provides a very complex perspective about these relationships given that both groups –Castilians and Indigenous peoples– acted in many diverse ways depending on the social, political, or economic context. In opposition to the traditionally prevailing idea of a constant hostile attitude between the two groups, we have ascertained a search for amity through pacific means among which commerce became a central piece