Editing New Spain (section)

==Economy==
{{Main|Economic history of Mexico#Economic history of New Spain, 1521-1821}}
[[File:8 reales Carolus III 1778 chop.png|thumb|250px|[[Silver coin]] minted in New Spain. Silver was its most important export, starting in the 16th century. '''8 reales [[Carlos III of Spain|Carlos III]] - 1778'''.]]
[[File:Indian collecting cochineal.jpg|right|thumb|150px|''Indigenous man collecting cochineal with a deer tail'' by [[José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez]] (1777). [[Cochineal]] was New Spain's most important export product after silver and its production was almost exclusively in the hands of indigenous cultivators.]]
[[File:Nebel Voyage 31 Arrieros.jpg|thumb|[[Arriero]]s in Mexico. Mules were the main way cargo was moved overland, engraving by [[Carl Nebel]].]]
[[File:Pedro de Alvarado (Tomás Povedano).jpg|thumb|[[Pedro de Alvarado]], one of the first negotiators to hold office in Hibueras where he founded the towns of San Pedro Sula and Guatemala]]
During the era of the conquest, to pay off the debts incurred by the conquistadors and their companies, the new Spanish governors awarded their men grants of native tribute and labor, known as [[encomiendas]]. In New Spain, these grants were modeled after the tribute and [[corvee]] labor that the [[Mexica]] rulers had demanded from native communities. This system came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent. In short order, the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop [[Bartolomé de las Casas]] suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Fray Bartolomé later repented when he saw the even worse treatment given to the black slaves.

In colonial Mexico, [[Encomenderos de Negros]] were specialized middlemen during the first half of the seventeenth century. While encomendero (alternatively, ''encomenderos de indios)'' generally refers to men granted the labor and tribute of a particular indigenous group in the immediate post-conquest era, encomenderos de negros were Portuguese slave dealers who were permitted to operate in Mexico for the slave trade.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

In Peru, the other discovery that perpetuated the system of forced labor, the [[mit'a]], was the enormously rich single silver mine discovered at Potosí, but in New Spain, labor recruitment differed significantly. Except silver mines worked in the Aztec period at [[Taxco]], southwest of Tenochtitlan, Mexico's mining region was outside the area of dense indigenous settlement. Labor for the mines in the north of Mexico had a workforce of black slave labor and indigenous wage labor, not draft labor.<ref name="Altman_etal_172">{{harvp|Altman|Cline|Pescador|2003|p=172}}</ref> Indigenous who were drawn to the mining areas were from different regions of the center of Mexico, with a few from the north itself. With such diversity, they did not have a common ethnic identity or language and rapidly assimilated into Hispanic culture. Although mining was difficult and dangerous, the wages were good, which is what drew the indigenous labor.<ref name="Altman_etal_172"/>

The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal source of income for Spain in the eighteenth century, with the revival of mining under the [[Bourbon Reforms]]. Important mining centers like [[Zacatecas]], [[Guanajuato]], [[San Luis Potosí]] and [[Hidalgo (Mexico)|Hidalgo]] had been established in the sixteenth century and suffered a decline for a variety of reasons in the seventeenth century, but silver mining in Mexico out-performed all other Spanish overseas territories in revenues for the royal coffers.

The fast red [[dye]] [[cochineal]] was an important export in areas such as central Mexico and Oaxaca in terms of revenues to the crown and stimulation of the internal market of New Spain. ''[[Chocolate|Cacao]]'' and [[indigo]] were also important exports for the New Spain, but was used through rather the vice royalties rather than contact with European countries due to piracy, and smuggling.<ref name="Foster_101_103">{{harvp|Foster|2000|pp=101–103}}</ref> The indigo industry in particular also helped to temporarily unite communities throughout the [[Kingdom of Guatemala]] due to the smuggling.<ref name="Foster_101_103"/>

There were two major ports in New Spain, [[Veracruz]] the viceroyalty's principal port on the Atlantic, and [[Acapulco]] on the Pacific, the terminus of the [[Manila galleon]]. In the Philippines [[Manila]] near the [[South China Sea]] was the main port. The ports were fundamental for overseas trade, stretching a trade route from Asia, through the Manila galleon to the Spanish mainland.

These were ships that made voyages from the Philippines to Mexico, whose goods were then transported overland from Acapulco to Veracruz and later reshipped from Veracruz to [[Cádiz]] in Spain. So then, the ships that set sail from Veracruz were generally loaded with merchandise from the East Indies originating from the commercial centers of the [[Philippines]], plus the [[precious metal]]s and natural resources of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$1.5&nbsp;trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain.

However, these resources did not translate into development for the [[Metropolis]] (mother country) due to the Spanish Roman Catholic Monarchy's frequent preoccupation with European wars (enormous amounts of this wealth were spent hiring mercenaries to fight the [[Protestant Reformation]]), as well as the incessant decrease in overseas transportation caused by assaults from companies of British [[buccaneer]]s, Dutch [[Privateer|corsairs]] and [[Piracy|pirates]] of various origins. These companies were initially financed by, at first, by the [[Amsterdam]] [[stock market]], the first in history and whose origin is owed precisely to the need for funds to finance pirate expeditions, as later by the London market. The above is what some authors call the "historical process of the transfer of wealth from the south to the north".