troduced, the system of monopoly which excluded all other Europeans from the 'New World' and also encompassed all aspects of trade and government in a rigid beaurocratic system which consolidated power in the Spanish court. This centralization of power, was an expression of the prevailing theory of imperial control that measured a nation's wealth in terms of it's accumulation of precious metals especially gold and silver or 'bullion' as it was called. According to the mercantilist philosophy, an exclusive trade policy would enable a nation to develop domestic industries, reduce its imports from competitors and expand its exports by virtue of monopolizing commodity flows. The aim of the Spanish crown was therefore to prevent the leakage of its colonial assets to other countries and to ensure the captive market for Spanish exports to the American colonies. The Spanish court banned the export of gold and silver to other European nations and instituted elaborate regulations and restrictions to exclude outside interests from any aspect of colonial commerce.
             The first measure enacted to control colonial trade was the designation of a single Spanish port for all the ships arriving from or departing to the Americas. This was Cadiz, but in 1503 Seville took over and every ship was required to register it's cargo in that city's port. In that same year the crown also established the Casa de Contratacion in Seville. This was the house of trade which was an organization devoted to regulating and taxing all commercial interactions with the Caribbean. Not only did it license and inspect ships and their crew, passengers and cargos but it collected taxes and directed them to the royal treasury. Even in the islands, there was a branch office off this 'House of Trade' in each colony. The office functioned as a warehouse and a customs house storing commodities before they returned to Spain an...