In 1503, 11 years after Queen Isabella I of Castile financed Columbus’ first voyage, she created a board of trade. Casa de Contratación regulated all shipping to the Americas (then called the Indies). 40 years later, the Consulado de Mercaderes was formed. This merchant guild had a monopoly over goods leaving Spain and all trade conducted among the new colonies. This Spanish Renaissance building designed by Juan de Herrera was finished in 1503 to house their activities. In 1785, Casa Lonja de Mercaderes was repurposed as the General Archive of the Indies. Inside of this World Heritage Site are 80 million pages of documentation tracing the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. It contains such treasures as the journal of Christopher Columbus.
