La acción de José Zavala y Miranda. Proyectos y disputas en torno a la constitución de una compañía privilegiada con Buenos Aires

Abstract

These pages analyse the disputes arising from the constitution of a trading company to do business with the Province of Buenos Aires in the first half of the 18th century. Its beginnings were in 1737, when the Provincial Council of Biscay appointed José Zavala y Miranda as its agent to begin negotiations in the court with the aim of formally establishing the company with its headquarters in the port of Bilbao. This plan was questioned by different corporate bodies, especially by Las Encartaciones de Vizcaya, showing in a veiled manner that this was part of a much wider conflict. The article explores the complexity of these confrontations, their origins and consequences, paying special attention to the protagonists (and their actions), where the closeness to the ministers and the monarch, a source of special benefits in a composite Monarchy, were fundamental elements for the emergence of new elites in terms of power and resources.