The Wool Trade

Attacks on Spanish ships colluded with drought to create shortages within México and Nuevo México. In 1743, a British admiral captured a Manila galleon on its return home. Lost with the ship were the year’s profits that would have financed the next year’s voyage. Bruce Cruikshank believed no ships docked in Acapulco in 1744 or 1745. Two arrived in 1746, but then none appeared the next two years.

By 1744, scarce commodities and hoarding plagued Puebla. Two years later, the only fabrics available to the elite were piece goods smuggled from England and Flanders.

México had developed a textile industry in the 1590s when Spain’s was in decline. Silkworms had been imported and wool introduced. Merchants financed workshops that employed immigrant artisans. Eventually native women took their places in the obrajes of Puebla.

Sales to the wealthy dropped when galleons from the Philippines introduced silks from Asia. The embargo between 1718 and 1734 hadn’t restored the industry. Woolen production moved to Querétaro when new lands were opened for grazing in Nuevo León after 1635. When the silver mines moved farther north, the obrajes relocated to Bajio and Guadalajara to provide the necessary rough woolens.

At the same time fewer goods were arriving in Veracruz and Acapulco for transport north to Nuevo México, disruptions in trade with Apache and Comanche meant there was less to send back. With dry conditions, buffalo may have shifted their range or not been as fecund.

Men sponsoring the annual convoys between Nueva España and Santa Fé may have been the ones who initiated the trade in wool. Pedro de Rivera noted in 1728 that convoys leaving El Paso for Santa Fé were provided military escorts twice a year. In 1760, Pedro Tamarón reported 500 to 600 men used the cordons that left in December for Vizcaya. Those entering Sonora were given an escort by the presidio at Janos.

In 1733, José Dias del Carpio was named commander at Jano. He had migrated from a village in Álava. The next year he was contracting for wool with Felipe Silva. It was probably a side investment made with a man who used his services when he was traveling in Sonora. It would have augmented the Basque’s 600 peso annual salary, without distracting from his military duties.

A three year drought slowed growth in the fleece trade. In 1735 Gervasio Cruzat y Góngora stopped all "exports of sheep, cattle, wool, or grain." The next year, the governor called a public meeting to discuss continuing the embargo. John Baxter said, the group "decided that commodity reserves were still insufficient for outside sales."

The next governor followed suit in 1737, but exempted products collected to pay tithes to the Bishop of Durango. Ranchers in Albuquerque, led by sons of Fernando Durán y Chaves protested, but Enrique de Olavide knew he was expected by the viceroy to handle threats of famine.

When drought hit Nueva Vizcaya the next year, the governor there used his own money to buy corn and wheat elsewhere in Nueva España. 1739 was worse. He had his alcaldes inventory all available foodstuffs. Like Cruzat, he then forbid both the sale and export of crops.

While drought persisted in parts of the west, the effects of naval attacks in the Caribbean became more severe in Puebla and Mexico City. In May of 1744 the mayordomo for a mule team delivering goods to Santa Fé offered to buy clips for his back haul. This time the governor, Joaquín Codallos, agreed since "there was no local market." The agreement was renewed the next year, which was unusually wet.

Baxter noted, no mention was made of shipping live animals. While churros were reputed to "substitute morning dew and succulent plants for drinking water," they still needed to eat when the were being driven south. Forage, especially in the jornado del muerto between modern-day Socorro and Las Cruces, may not have revived enough to support both flocks and pack train animals. In addition, raids by hostile bands had increased. Live animals were more likely to attract attention than fleece. The sale of fleeces before the drive exempted men from the risks of losses during the convoy.

The shift from livestock to wool completed a transformation in the Río Abajo economy that had begun when men began raising more sheep than cattle during the dry years. When Diego de Vargas brought livestock north for the settlers in the 1697, there were 100 sheep for every 16.5 cows or bulls. When Diego Padilla died in 1739, he left 1,700 sheep and 141 cows, or 100 sheep for every 8.3 cows.

Notes: The merchant who owned the mule team in 1744 was Manuel de Anaya Villagrán. A descendant has learned he was an orphan born in Huichapan, Hidalgo. The use of the term huerfano on his baptismal certificate might mean he was came from a well-to-do family, but may also have been the name of a godparent sponsoring an illegitimate child. The mayordomo, Francisco de Vargas, is even more obscure. Felipe Silva was the brother of Francisco Silva mentioned in the post for 24 February 2016.

Bass, Steve. "Basques in the Americas 1692-1792," posted 2 September 2009 on Euskal Kazeta website; on Dias del Carpio.

Baxter, John O. Las Carneradas, 1987; quotations not otherwise attributed.

Blake, Alice. Discussion on Nuestros Ranchos website about problems tracing Anaya Villagrán.

Boyle, Susan Calafate. Comerciantes, Arrieros, y Peones: The Hispanos and the Santa Fe Trade, 1994; 1742 population of San Felipe area.

Cruikshank, Bruce. "Directory of Manila Galleon Voyages, 1565 through 1815," his website.

Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa. Entry on "Fuenclara, Conde de" mentions hoarding in Puebla.

Hamnett, Brian R. A Concise History of Mexico, 2006; history of textile industry.

Rivera Villalón, Pedro de. Inspection report, 1728; translation in Thomas H. Naylor and Charles W. Polzer, Pedro de Rivera and the Military Regulations for Northern New Spain, 1724-1729, 1988.

Salvucci, Richard J. Textiles and Capitalism in Mexico, 1965.

Tamarón y Romeral, Pedro. The Kingdom of New Mexico, 1760, translation in Eleanor B. Adams, Bishop Tamarón’s Visitation of New Mexico, 1760, 1954.

Wikipedia. Entry on "Francisco de Guemes y Horcasitas" mentions smuggling.

[Wikipedia Esp Hist I1]

_____. Entry on "Textiles of Mexico" discusses silk industry.