El reclutamiento de marinería en la América española en el siglo XVIIIla matrícula de mar y su comparación con el "Impressment" británico

Abstract

It is studied the method that the Spanish Navy used for recruiting sailors during the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, the Matrícula de mar, in the American territories of the Crown. It is analysed documentation of an administrative, legal, epistolary or political nature, among others. For its treatment, several databases are made, through which quantitative and qualitative information is processed. The implementation of the Matrícula de mar in America is detailed both in its geographical and administrative aspects and in its consequences for the Armada and for the seafarers themselves. It is made a comparison with the British recruitment system, the impressment, in similar terms. Both are collated to clarify their impact on Spanish naval policy and on the American and Atlantic social context.