ABSTRACT
The economic life of the Spanish American colonies reflected both New and Old World influences. Side by side with the subsistence-and-tribute economy of the Indians, there arose a Spanish commercial agriculture producing foodstuffs or raw materials for sale in local or distant markets. Stock-raising was another important economic activity in the colonies. The introduction of domestic animals represented a major Spanish contribution to American economic life, because the ancient Americas, aside from a limited region of the Andes, had no domestic animals for use as food or in transportation. The Spaniards found a flourishing handicrafts industry in the advanced culture in Mexico and Peru. The Spanish crown displayed much solicitude for the agricultural development of the Indies and paid particular attention to the shipping of trees, plants, seeds, and agricultural implements of all kinds. The sugar industry is even wider in scope, for the sugar not only is consumed in the Indies but is shipped in quantity to Spain.
