You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Spanish. (August 2017)Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Casa de la Contratación de Indias]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|es|Casa de la Contratación de Indias}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation.

TheCasa de Contratación (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈkasaðekontɾataˈθjon],House of Trade) orCasa de la Contratación de las Indias ("House of Trade of the Indies") was established by theCrown of Castile, in 1503 in the port ofSeville (and transferred toCádiz in 1717) as a crown agency for theSpanish Empire. It functioned until 1790, when it was abolished in a government reorganization.^{[citation needed]}

Before the establishment of theCouncil of the Indies in 1524, the Casa de Contratación had broad powers over overseas matters, especially financial matters concerning trade and legal disputes arising from it. It also was responsible for the licensing of emigrants, training of pilots, creation of maps and charters, probate of estates of Spaniards dying overseas.^[1] Its official name wasLa Casa y Audiencia de Indias.^[2]

Unlike the laterEast India Companies, chartered companies established by theDutch,English, and others, theCasa collected all colonial taxes and duties, approved all voyages of exploration and trade, maintained secret information on trade routes and new discoveries,^[3][4] licensed captains, and administeredcommercial law.

In theory, no Spaniard could sail anywhere without the approval of theCasa. However, smuggling often took place in different parts of the vastSpanish Empire.^[5][6][7]

TheCasa de Contratación was created by QueenIsabella I of Castile in 1503, eleven years after Christopher Columbus's landfall in the Americas in 1492.^[8]Ochoa Alvarez de Isasaga (Ysasaga) was named factor for the Crown by King Ferdinand "the Catholic: and Queen Juana I of Castile in 1509 for the Casa.^[9]

TheCasa was the Spanish counterpart of the Portuguese organization, theCasa da India, or House of Índia ofLisbon,^[10][11] established in 1434 and destroyed by the1755 Lisbon earthquake.

Dr. Sancho de Matienzo became the first treasurer, Jimeno de Bribiesca the firstcontador, and Francisco Pinelo the first factor. They soon controlled the economic development ofHispaniola.^[12]

A 20 per cent tax, thequinto real (royal fifth) was levied by theCasa on allprecious metals entering Spain.^[13][14]

The other taxes could run as high as 40% to provide naval protection for the trading ships or as low as 10 per cent during financial turmoil to encourage investment and economic growth in the colony. Each ship was required to employ a clerk to keep detailed logs of all goods carried and all transactions.^[15]

TheCasa de Contratación produced and managed thePadrón Real, the official and secret Spanish map used as a template for the maps carried by every Spanish ship during the 16th century.^[16]

It was constantly improved from its first version in 1508, and was the counterpart of the Portuguese map, thePadrão Real. TheCasa also ran a navigation school; new pilots, or navigators, were trained for ocean voyages here.^[17]

Spain employed the then standardmercantilist model, governed (at least in theory) by theCasa inSeville. Trade with the overseas possessions was handled by a merchants' guild based in Seville, theConsulado de mercaderes, which worked in conjunction with theCasa de Contratación. Trade was physically controlled in well-regulatedtrade fleets, the famousFlota de Indias and theManila galleons.^{[citation needed]}

By the late 17th century, theCasa de Contratación had fallen into bureaucratic gridlock, and the empire as a whole was failing, due primarily to Spain's inability to finance both war on the Continent and a global empire.^{[citation needed]}

More often than not, the riches transported fromManila andAcapulco to Spain were officially signed over to Spain's creditors before the Manila galleon made port.^{[citation needed]}

In the 18th century, the newBourbon kings reduced the power of Seville and theCasa de Contratacion.^[18] In 1717 they moved theCasa from Seville toCádiz, diminishing Seville's importance in international trade.Charles III further limited the powers of theCasa,^[19] and his son,Charles IV, abolished it altogether in 1790.^[19][20]

TheSpanish treasure fleets were also officially ended due to the abolition, bringing an end to the prosperous Spanish colonial income.^[21]

The cartographic enterprise at theCasa de Contratación was a huge undertaking, and critical to the success of the voyages of discovery. Without good navigational aids, the ability of Spain to exploit and profit from what it found would have been limited. TheCasa had a large number of cartographers and navigators (pilots), archivists, record keepers, administrators and others involved in producing and managing thePadrón Real.^[22]

ExplorerAmerigo Vespucci, who made at least two voyages to the New World, was a pilot working at theCasa de Contratación until his death in 1512.^[23] A special position was created for Vespucci, thepiloto mayor (chief of navigation), in 1508;^[24] he trained new pilots for ocean voyages.^[15]

His nephew, Juan Vespucci, inherited his famous uncle's maps, charts, and nautical instruments,^[25] and along withAndrés de San Martín was appointed to Amerigo's former position as the official Spanish government pilot at Seville.^[26][27]

In 1524, Juan Vespucci was appointedexaminador de pilotos (Examiner of Pilots),^[28] replacingSebastian Cabot who was then leading an expedition in Brazil.^[29][30]

In the 1530s and 1540s, the principal mapmakers (known as "cosmographers") in theCasa de Contratación working on thePadrón Real includedAlonso de Santa Cruz,^[31] Sebastian Cabot, andPedro de Medina.^[32] The mapmakerDiego Gutiérrez was appointed as cosmographer in theCasa on October 22, 1554, after the death of his father Diego in January 1554; he also worked on the Padrón Real.

In 1562, Gutierrez published the map entitled "Americae ... Descriptio" in Antwerp. It was published in Antwerp instead of Spain because the Spanish engravers did not have the necessary skill to print such a complicated document.^[33] Other cosmographers includedAlonso de Chaves,Jerónimo de Chaves, andSancho Gutiérrez (Diego's brother).^[34][35]

In the late 16th century,Juan López de Velasco was the firstCosmógrafo-Cronista Mayor (Cosmographer-Chronicler Major) of theCouncil of the Indies in Seville.^[36]

He produced a master map and twelve subsidiary maps portraying the worldwide Spanish empire in cartographic form.^[37][38][39]

Although these maps are not especially accurate or detailed, his work represented the apogee of Spanish mapmaking in that period, and surpassed anything done by the other European powers.

Cartographers in England, the Low Countries, and Germany, however, continued to improve their skills in making maps and in organizing and presenting geographic information, until by the end of the 17th century, even Spanish intellectuals were lamenting that the maps produced by foreigners were superior to those made in Spain.^[40][41][42]

• The Virgin of the Navigators, the first painting depicting the discovery of the Americas, is in a Casa de Contratación chapel.
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