Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the Persian silk trade and the Portuguese empire's incorporation in the Habsburg Monarchy. It considers: 1. the lobbying of economic groups involved in the silk business throughout the empire; 2. the place of the Persian Gulf in the global politics of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses why a contract on the Persian silk, seemingly fundamental for the alliance between Iberians and Persians in the early seventeenth century, was never established. It argues that the Habsburg interest in the Shah's silk cannot be understood without considering all the commercial routes and networks created by the global Iberian empire that resulted from the union of Portugal and Spain (1580-1640). Hence, it analyzes how the silk trade between Iberians and Persians collided with important silk production centers in Spain and in China, as well as with the interests of economic groups (producers and merchants) engaged in their commerce.

Balancing the position of both the formal and informal structures of this newly-created global Iberian empire, this paper discusses three problems. Firstly, it studies the objections the Persian silk commerce arose from the Spanish producers of silk and the overseas merchants involved in the Chinese silk trade. Secondly, it examines the impact the Persian silk trade would have had in the commercial routes orquestrated between Lisbon and the overseas world. Thirdly, it analyzes how Madrid, as the decision-centre of the empire, dealt with the Persian silk negotiations with the Safavid court and how it balanced Portuguese and Spanish interests in this affair. It argues that the Habsburg commitment to the Persian silk trade mirrored the position the Persian Gulf occupied in the Catholic Monarchy's wider hierarchy of interests.