The Great Shift: the rise of Mexico and the Decline of Peru in the Spanish American Colonial Empire, 1680–1809

Using the reconstructed royal treasury records for the three principal colonies of Spanish America from the last quarter of the 17th century to the first decade of the 19th century, this essay constructs the changing fortunes of royal income end expenditures in these crucial American economies. The viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico and the Audiencia of Charcas were the principal sources of surplus revenues in the American colonies. Until 1700 the two Andean regions domineted the Spanish American colonial system in terms of generating royal income and in producing silver for export to Europe. But these soon declined relative to Mexico, which in the 18th century become the dominent economy and major source of royal income. The various royal revenues and expenditures and their performance over time are analyzed for ell three colonies to determine the long term trends in their growth and relative importance.