El auge económico de Cartagena y la revitalización del sureste español en los siglos XVI y XVII

With the arrival of the sixteenth century, a new stage of prosperity begins in Cartagena and Alicante, supported by the intense mercantile activity generated by its ports. This economic energy served to revitalise a previously dormant space: the Spanish southeast. Taking as a starting point the harbour of Cartagena, this article analyses the enormous magnitude of commercial relationships, the goods exchanged, their production and commercialisation, the behaviour of the mercantile bourgeoisie and the effects of exorbitant taxation that stimulated smuggling and was ultimately responsible for the later stagnation of Cartagena. Through extensive archival work at the municipal archives of Cartagena and Murcia, the Archivo Histórico Provincial (Murcia), the Real Chancillería (Granada), the Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid), the Archivo General (Simancas), the Archivio di Stato (Genova), and the Archives Nationales (Paris), the article attempts to fill a historical lacuna. This lacuna has hitherto prevented a full appreciation of the economic environment of Habsburg Spain