Marketplace Trade in Latin America

In: Latin American research review, Band 9, Heft 3, S. 3-38

Abstract

One of the Most Characteristic and Picturesque Features of Latin American commercial activity is the market, "an organized public gathering of buyers and sellers of commodities meeting at an appointed place at regular intervals" (Hodder 1965: 57). These markets are held in open market squares or plazas, in streets and open spaces, at roads junctions, and in public, municipal market buildings. Locally, markets are referred to by such names as ferias, plazas, or mercados in Spanish-speaking Latin America, feiras in Brazil, tianguis in Indian areas of central Mexico, catus in some Quechua-speaking Andean areas, and marchés in French-speaking countries. Generally found in medium to large nucleated settlements, markets are also encountered in very small hamlets, particularly those located at nodal points in communication networks. A settlement may have one or more different market locations within the built-up area, or on the outskirts of the settlement. Most larger towns and cities have several separate markets which specialize in different commodities, or serve different neighborhoods or social groups. Places with one or more markets are generally referred to as market centers.