Agency, Monopoly, and Commerce: the Superintendents of the Junta do Tobaco in Asia and the Atlantic and Global Economies, 1674 to 1774

George Souza (University of Texas, St Antonio and Kyoto University)

This presentation examines the role of the commercial agents of the Junta do Tobaco in Asia and the Atlantic and Global Economies from the inception of the Portuguese Crown’s monopoly of Brazilian tobacco in 1674 until the elimination of those positions in 1776. The organization, functioning, and the history of the Portuguese Crown’s monopoly of Brazilian tobacco and trade in that commodity and in other Afro-Asian commodities from the proceeds the sale of tobacco is a fascinating and an important case study of imperialism and globalization in early modern world history.

There were an extremely small number of agents – two for all of Asia and East Africa, who administered and were commercially responsible for the management of this monopoly to the Crown and its other beneficiaries, the Queen and the House of Braganza. A list of all and extensive and detailed service records for the majority of them has been reconstructed. Details, to name a few, of their handling of the triennial sale of the monopoly to Hindu merchants at Goa, the negotiation of the proceeds of those sales on the Crown’s behalf in contracting, purchasing, and exporting Malabar pepper, Bengal saltpeter, Golconda diamonds, Mozambican cowries, gold, and ivory, and Gujarati cotton textiles from India to Brazil and Portugal are discussed. They also dealt with the preemptory requirements of honoring and repaying Crown obligations and in providing extraordinary finance for the defense of the Estado da India.

This paper concludes with a discussion of the interconnections between these agents with other merchants and networks for commercial intelligence and the importance of these individuals and their role and agency from within such an key institution throughout the Portuguese empire in America, Africa, and Asia, and within the economies of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds and in the early modern Global Economy.