Entrepreneurial aspects of shipbuilding in the sixteenth century: the example of Ribeira das Naus in Lisbon

Abstract

This study looks at the management methods that were used at one particular shipyard. The Armazéns de Guiné e índia (Guinea and India Warehouses) was a yard that built ships for the India line, and was directly subordinate to part of the central state administration. The author questions relevance of a concept such as «parastatal», if used to identify an initiative of this kind in a society preceding the nineteenth century. Two objectives are emphasised: obtaining a return on capital invested; and the absence of a clear distinction between the «public» and «private» spheres. Certain aspects are studied in order to understand this crown enterprise throughout the sixteenth century: arrangements for organizing production; changes to the institutional links between the manpower and the shipyard; and the processes used to replenish the warehoused stocks.