The Casa de la Contratación de Indias and the application of double entry bookkeeping to the sale of precious metals in Spain, 1557–83

This paper is part of a broad project of research in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, into the Spanish gold and silver trade in the second half of the sixteenth century, carried out for the Municipality of Seville (Donoso Anes, 1992). The present paper concentrates on the accounting treatment of the trade which, because of its importance, was rigorously controlled through a system of double entry bookkeeping. In this field the author has selected accounting information relative to sales of non-American silver, specifically from the mines of Guadalcanal and Aracena. Although these were greatly inferior in output to the American mines, their accounting treatment was similar. The author has therefore examined their principal account books, the journal and ledger, which provide an excellent example of the general scheme, used also in accounting for American silver.