A government agency for promoting economic development. The consulado originated in medieval Spain as a guild of merchants in a port city to administer commercial law, particularly in regard to overseas trade. As Spanish administration was centralized in the late 15th century, the crown took control of appointing its officers. The consulado of Seville came to play an important role in the commercial exploitation of the Indies, especially after 1784 when its purpose became more administrative than judicial. Mexico and Lima were the only American cities permitted their own consulados, until the 1790s, when the crown gave way to pressure from local merchants and permitted the creation of additional consulados, in Caracas, Buenos Aires, Guatemala City, and Havana – one of the few instances where Spain allowed power to pass from the crown to that of local business interests. The establishment of the Havana consulado (by royal cédula of April 4, 1794), owed much to the Captain General Las Casas and his advisor, Francisco de Arango y Parreño. It functioned mainly to recommend measures in favor of development and act as a sort of embryonic Cuban ministry of industries, with responsibilities that included highway construction and the awarding of prizes for useful inventions. It differed from some of the other New World consulados in drawing its membership predominately from the Creole plantocracy, rather than from the Peninsular merchant class. In 1831 the Junta de Fomento was separated from the Consulado, which retained only its function as a court of commercial law.
