Business operations, interests and investment orientations of the merchants of Lisbon (1755-1822)

Abstract

The merchants of Lisbon, who constituted a most differentiated social group, enjoying a precise legal and social status, developed an array of business ventures. The analysis of the structure of their usually considerable estates, formed, in the first place, by outstanding credits, clearly confirms the variety and the capitalistic nature of their undertakings. This pattern characterizes the group as a whole, at every level of a deep internal stratification, which originated in the unevenness of trade ventures but, most of all, in the profits from the large state contracts and monopolies. Keeping their funds in circulation, they sustained a whole range of activities: long distance trade (particularly with the colonies); shipping; credit operations; insurance; chartering of public revenues and monopolies; manufacturing enterprises. They apparently chose the more profitable operations (although as a rule they did not use sophisticated bookkeeping methods which would allow them to compare profit with capital), but they also tried to protect a portion of their fortunes from the risks of business, and so they used to invest in real estate (mostly in city buildings) and public bonds. However, they did not become rentiers, for these investments and conspicuous consumption, did not hinder the persistence of their trade ventures.