Adaptive strategies: French and Flemish merchant communities in Seville as connectors of European and American markets (1570-1650)

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the protagonists of the European Atlantic trade who connected the Americas with the north-western European market. The two key nations (in the sense of a corporative mercantile organisation of people of common origin and language) in Seville regarding this connection were the Flemish and the French. This chapter investigates their specific commercial and social behaviour and their private and business networks. It will discuss the institutional consolidation of the two merchant colonies in Seville as well as their various assimilation patterns, while also examining the size of both communities, their marriage policies, business preferences and susceptibility to political events. Finally, it will assess collective commercial and social strategies based on cultural factors such as homophily, trust and shared mental models.