Paper short abstract:

The Tobacco commerce, under the scope of the colonial Ancient Regime, was based on a system of contracts and exclusive businesses, with associated financial and tax benefits. This paper aims to infer if the Azores Islands were included in this Atlantic system for tobacco.

Paper long abstract:

From the second half of the 17th century, the Tobacco trade became one of the main revenues for the European colonial empires. To make a better profit the several empires adopted different managing approaches. In Portugal there was a general contract, based on a system of contracts and exclusive businesses, with associated financial and tax benefits. The Azores, being part of the Portuguese Empire, were also included in this trade. This paper is a case study about the commercial activity of one of the tobacco traders who managed the contract in São Miguel during the first half of the 19th century - António José de Vasconcelos. Analysing the business correspondence we intend to answer the following questions:How was the business organised? Would the island contractors have (more) autonomy compared to the general contractors? Which were their commercial activities besides tobacco sales and the organisation of the local factory? Were they integrated into the mercantile elite of the Azorean markets?And finally was the Azorean Tobacco business a part of a wider business which we could classify as the Atlantic Tobacco System?