Merchant Networks, Microspaces, and the Circulation of Ideas: Liberalism in the Wake of the Royal Company of the Philippines

Abstract:It is well known that the founding of the Royal Company of the Philippines not only stemmed from the late–eighteenth-century Bourbon Reforms but also gave rise to opium trading networks in East Asia. It is less known, however, that the company and the networks created by its employees constituted communities that shared both material and immaterial goods. This essay analyzes the historical process through which its employees created a space for ideas linked to economic liberalism. The issue has particular importance since there have been few studies on the similarities between the evolution of trading companies and liberalism.