Commercial and more material distinctions which favoured Spain as
against her colonies remained equally marked. Bartolome Mitre has
appropriately explained the situation which preceded the Revolution:
"The system of commercial monopoly which Spain adopted with respect
to America immediately on the discovery of the Continent was as
disastrous to the motherland as to the colonies. Employing a
fallacious theory in order that the riches of the New World should
pass to Spain, and that the latter country should serve as sole
provider to her colonies, all the legislation was in the first
instance directed to this end. Thus in America all industries which
might provide competition with those of the Peninsula were
forbidden. In order that this monopoly might be centralized, the
port of Seville (and afterwards that of Cadiz) was made the sole
port of departure and of entry for the vessels carrying the
merchandise between the two continents. In order to render the
working of this system doubly efficacious, no commercial
communication was permitted between the colonies themselves, and
the movements of all merchandise were made to converge at a single
point.
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