ABSTRACT
Guillermo Pérez Sarrión examines the development of a Spanish national market from the mid-seventeenth century. This was a process that began through regional differentiation and culminated in the creation of a single economic space. Habsburg reforms contributed to these developments but foreign influence and models held particular importance. British and French rivalries and economic competition impacted internal development in Spain as each sought dominance of the peninsula. These rivalries produced varying attempts at influence and domination including by means of war, such as that over the Spanish succession (1700–1715). However, both external powers were strong enough to derive benefits from a weakened Spain. Geo-political strategies of France and Britain impacted economic models and strategies pursued by Spanish governments seeking to modernise. The ultimate impact of these interventions was the gradual emergence of a complete domestic market and a nationally driven economic policy, known to us by the familiar name of mercantilism.
