New Mexico Merchants, the Manila Galleons and the Atlantic Trade
New Mexico Merchants, the Manila Galleons and the Atlantic Trade
The publications shows the material culture during the period from 1712 to 1765 that residents in New Mexico owned goods from the international trade and valued them by adding them to their wills and inventories. The author shows that even through Santa Fe and El Paso del Norte and points in between were distant from Mexico City and Madrid, Spain; New Mexico was very much a part of Spain's global empire.
Anecdotal information shows that goods from the international trade were owned by New Mexicans. This leads historians to begin asking questions. How many of these goods made it to New Mexicans? How they were sold among the population? Were these goods owned only by a few of by many?
The results of the study of wills, inventories, and court cases by Dr. Tigges gives a view of the New Mexicans that we have not had before — that they owned goods from the international trade and valued them by adding them to their wills and inventories. Her publication of the material culture during the period from 1712 to 1765, shows that residents of New Mexico dressed well for weddings, baptisms, and other family and public functions, and is worthy of consideration.
~Henrietta Martínez Christmas