British Trade and the Fall of the Spanish Empire – Changing Practices and Alliances of Antony Gibbs & Sons in Lima during the Transition from Viceregal to Independentist Rule (1820-1823)

Abstract

This paper retraces the changing alliances and practices of Antony Gibbs & Sons’ Lima agent during the transition from Spanish to independentist rule. The company’s correspondence with London guides us in exploring this moment in Hispano-American history halfway between the 18^th century Spanish global trading system and 19^th century international trade hegemonised by Britain. It will shed light on that ‘grey area’ between royalists and independentists, kept open by a handful of international merchants from neutral countries and embracing a wide gamut of possible compromises. Gibbs quickly adjusted the hierarchy among their alliances, in order to adapt to shifting power balances between royalists and independentists and between British and Spanish interests on the Hispano-American Pacific coast. The firm’s synergy with British merchants well-connected to the independentists provided it with greater guarantees of success and better political support than those provided by its partners in Spain and royalist America. Such alliances were key in expanding the firm’s trade, as was Gibbs’ access to pre-existing commercial networks in Spanish America. The company’s initiatives became therefore a vector of change between the old system and the new, an informal means of ‘restructuring’ influence during this era of reconfiguration.