The success of this type of monopoly depended to a great extent on the mother country’s ability to acquire exclusive rights to the gains from trade through regulations and trade restrictions. The accumulation of precious metals by means of trade surpluses was the chief mercantilist idea behind the monopolistic control of trade that Spain and Portugal imposed on their colonies. The first image that comes to mind when one thinks of trade in Latin America during the colonial period is that of the Spanish imperial trade monopoly with its axis in the Casa de Contratación in Seville.
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