The Bankruptcy a Transport Company in New Spain at the Beginning of the 19th Century: Its Causes

This text studies the business of Pedro de Vértiz, a merchant specialized in transporting silver and other products of both the Royal Treasury and private businesses. It situates Vértiz y Oteiza and his cousin, son-in-law and agent, Juan José de Oteiza y Vértiz, as representatives of a long line of businessmen from Navarre who founded their business on a chain of emigrants with strong endogamic ties of kinship and ethnicity. At the same time, to guarantee the support of independent mule-drivers and their workers, they established client-patron relationships through godparentage and guarantees of protection, as well as strict codes of labor discipline. The text analyzes the causes of this transport company’s bankruptcy and the social repercussions that this event may have had on the economy of New Spain