The Emergence of Navíos de Aviso in the Spanish Empire and the Exchange of Overseas Correspondence (1492–1590)

Resumen

This article analyses the emergence of the navíos de aviso, or dispatch ships, within the Spanish Empire. These vessels carried hundreds of pieces of news and mail across the Atlantic Ocean. For three centuries, these avisos were essential to the circulation of overseas correspondence. Using unpublished sources from different American and European archives, I aim to show that the navíos de aviso represent an unprecedented attempt by the Spanish Crown to offer a transcontinental and overseas postal exchange service. The system was flexible, non-monopolistic, and designed to be used by official institutions or a wide variety of vassals. In fact, individuals of diverse ethnic origins were directly or indirectly involved with these ships specialized in mail transport. In order to show this, I examine the previous navigation experiences that supported the emergence of the system and the circumstances that made the service attractive to users. I also analyze the strategies used by the crown to regulate exchanges and the circumstances that allowed the avisos to gain independence from military-commercial convoys. The work covers a problem unexplored by historiography that is essential to understanding what made communication between Europe and America possible during early modernity.