Nineteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The European commercial empires of the past few centuries based their successes on the mercantilist thesis, which advocated expansionism to supply raw materials and demand manufactured goods at the zero-sum expense of their enemies. The Hapsburg Spanish Monarchy was aware of this phenomenon but failed to implement it effectively. The installation of the Bourbon dynasty and the change of political structure (from a compound to a compact state) allowed the crown to plan a series of reforms in order to advance this economic system. This study considers the Spanish enlightenment scientific expeditions, financed by the crown, aimed to gather reliable information from its overseas dominions, with clear mercantilist aims, which evolved into the creation of a series of enlightenment-style institutions that collected and disseminated scientific knowledge throughout Spanish America.