1789-Dec.: Fearing the “troubles in France,” Spanish customs officials at Cartagena began prohibiting all foreign vessels from docking at the mainland port.

1789-Dec.: Fearing the “troubles in France,” Spanish customs officials at Cartagena began prohibiting all foreign vessels from docking at the mainland port. This reactive policy aimed to insulate the Spanish territories from the infectious ideas of “liberty, equality, and fraternity”. By closing their borders, the Spanish administration acknowledged that revolutionary intelligence was a commodity more dangerous than contraband goods. This defensive stance disrupted the established intercolonial commercial links that usually functioned regardless of imperial rivalries. It highlights the desperation of colonial powers to contain an intellectual current that increasingly ignored geographic and political boundaries.