Comercio local en una encrucijada global: almonedas y mercados de segunda mano en la ciudad de Panamá (c. 1550-1650)

The Isthmus of Panama was a nodal point articulating some of the most important trade routes established during the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, like the African slave trade to Peru or the silver trade connecting Potosí with China through Europe. However, historians know little about how local trade took place on a daily basis in this region. To fill this lacuna, this article investigates the auctions of “goods of the deceased” taking place in Panama City between 1550 and 1650. These auctions offer a unique opportunity to shed light on how second-hand markets worked at a “portal of globalization” like the Isthmus of Panama.