Social Circles, Normative Frameworks and Credit. Buenos Aires, 17th Century

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the normative orders, sociability circles and institutional arrangements that actors used for their economic and commercial interaction during the first half of the 17th century in Buenos Aires. By studying interpersonal borrowing as observatory, we will advance in understanding the practice of registering the debts with the notary. Through this approach we will try to investigate the actual weight of the interpersonal networks as one of the institutional and normative contexts available for economic interaction in the early Rio de la Plata.