Relaciones comerciales entre puertos franceses y guipuzcoanos en las décadas finales del siglo XVI y la primera mitad del siglo XVII: síntoma de vitalidad económica

This article draws attention towards a historical source which has been virtually overlooked, the books of merchant registrations. They are most interesting documents for the study of trade and industry in Gipuzcoa during the 16th and the 17th centuries. This source leads to questionning some of the assumptions which have been accepted in Basque historiography on the “crisis of the 17th century”, in tune with recent Spanish and European points of view. The commercial relations with ports, mostly French, which can be traced through those registrations, bear witness of fluid commercial exchanges, arrivals of cereals an food, and exports of iron and coins from some of the main Gipuzcoan seaports. One of the main conclusions is that the exports of iron to French harbours continued through the end of the 16th- and the beginning of the 17th century.