"A Risky Business? Trade Monopoly Companies, Taxation and State Capacity in Early Modern Portugal, c. 1640-1750 "

One of the aspects concerning the Portuguese financial milestones brings together Britain and Portugal’s maritime interests, trade and institutional transformations that led the country towards to investments in Modern defense mechanisms. This paper aims to discuss and analyze the pivotal role played by the Companhias Gerais de Comércio (General Trade Companies), i.e., monopoly companies responsible for colonial endeavors, to support Portuguese effort to rebuild state finances in a critical moment of war for independence. The Treaty of Peace and Trade of 1642 sowed the seeds of Portugal’s dependence, since Portuguese businessman relied on British credit and shipping networks to restore internal production and reestablish trade partnerships, compromised during the conflict period. In this sense, we argue that a tripod composed by the creation of new institutions – the Companhias de Comércio, a refurbished public debt system (the Padrões de Juro) a major taxation overhaul and underpinned the reconstruction of the empire’s finances and became one of the milestones of Portugal’s fiscal history.