Torre Tavira
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Transcript
Torre Tavira became Cádiz’s official watchtower in the eighteenth century, when the city’s Atlantic trade was at its most consequential. From a high tower, incoming ships were information: cargo, credit, risk, news.
In 1717 Spain transferred the Casa de Contratación — the institution regulating American trade — from Seville to Cádiz. The port’s role in the imperial economy expanded dramatically. Merchant houses built lookout towers so owners could track vessels approaching the harbour.
This prosperity should not be romanticised as neutral globalisation. The Spanish Atlantic system was colonial, and wealth circulating through Cádiz was tied to extraction, monopoly and slavery as well as ordinary commerce.
The camera obscura now associated with Torre Tavira is an excellent tourist device. Historically, the more important technology was line of sight. Before real-time data feeds, a merchant with a tower and telescope had what finance departments still crave: earlier information than the competition.