Portuguese School of Commerce, 1759-1844: a reflection of the "Enlightenment", The

Accounting History,  Nov 2004  by Rodrigues, Lúcia Lima,  Gomes, Delfina,  Craig, Russell

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Abstract

This paper introduces to the English-language literature the Aula do Comércio (School of Commerce) which was established in Lisbon in 1759. This school was a product of the Portuguese Enlightenment period and provided a model for development of similar government-sponsored schools across Europe. Our principal objective is to provide a comprehensive description of the school by outlining why it was established, how it operated, what it taught, what effects it had, and why it closed in 1844. It is important to gain an understanding of the School of Commerce because it was an important milestone in the development of commercial education in eighteenth century Europe. The School has attracted considerable notoriety, especially in the Portuguese-language literature, where it is claimed to be the world's first government-sponsored school to specialise in the teaching of commerce, including accounting.

Keywords: Accounting; history; Portugal; school; education, commerce.

Introduction

This paper introduces and examines aspects of the Aula do Comércio (School of Commerce), which was established in Lisbon in 1759. The School of Commerce played a very influential role in the development of accounting and commercial acumen in Portugal in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (Rodrigues et al., 2003). It has also attracted the remarkable claim in the Portuguese accounting literature that it was the world's first government-sponsored institution to specialise in the teaching of commerce, including accounting (Azevedo, 1961; Felismino, 1960; Corrêa, 1930; and Santana, 1989, among others).

The main objective of the current paper is to provide a descriptive profile of the Portuguese School of Commerce: it served as an exemplar for the subsequent development of similar technically-oriented government-sponsored schools of commerce in other parts of Europe. For example, in Cadiz (Spain) the Board of Trade established the first public School of Commerce in 1799 (Arquero & Donoso, 2001). The Portuguese School of Commerce pre-dates government-sponsored schools of commerce in Vienna (Realakademie, 1770), in Hamburg (Hamburgische Handlungs Akademie, 1771), in Saint Petersburg (School of Commerce of Saint Petersburg, 1772), Barcelona (Academia do Comércio, 1787), among others (Portela 1965; Redlich 1957). The knowledge that we provide of the Portuguese School of Commerce (and its constitution, practices and curricula) should enhance understanding of how accounting and commercial "know-how" was propagated in Europe in the eighteenth century.

We devote separate sections to outlining the School's historical antecedents, structure, functioning, curricula, teachers, graduates, economic context, and reasons for demise. Our sources include archival data, principally those accessed in Lisbon at the Bihlioteca National (National Library of Portugal) and at the Arquivos Nacionais Torre do Tomba (National Archives of Portugal); the text of decrees issued by various governments of Portugal; and a wide range of scholarly literature in several languages (principally Portuguese, but also including English and Spanish).

The School of Commerce

Historical antecedents

In the 1750s, Portugal's indigenous mercantile class was weak and commercial (including accounting) acumen was poorly developed (Ribeiro Sanches, 1760, p. 116). The preponderance of merchants in Portugal (who were mostly Jewish, and often foreigners) had been expelled during the Inquisition and those few merchants who remained had little capital, poor skills and low literacy levels (Azevedo, 1929). On 30 September 1755 a Royal Decree created the Junta do Comércio (Board of Trade) and on 19 May 1759, the Board of Trade established a School of Commerce in Lisbon.1 The interregnum between the creation of the Board of Trade in 1755 and the foundation of the School of Commerce in 1759 can be attributed to the pressing need for reconstruction following the devastating earthquake of 1 November 1755 in Lisbon (Felismino, 1960, p. 11).

The human catalyst for the establishment of the School of Commerce, according to Rodrigues and Craig (2004), was Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo (1699-1782) (later to become the Marquis of Pombal. He is better known by that title, which we use hereafter, often in abbreviated form). Pombal was the Chief Minister of Portugal from 1750-1777. Rodrigues and Craig (2004) claim he is responsible for the transfer (from England to Portugal) of the educational knowhow that was instrumental to the success of the School; and that he had been influenced by the English mercantilism2 he observed as Portuguese ambassador to England (1738-1743). Two such particular influences on Pombal that they cite were first, the proposals of economics writer, Malachy Postlethwayt, for the establishment of formal, academy-based commercial education in England; and second, Pombal's contact with John Cleland, a former East India Company employee.3

According to Castro (1982), the Portuguese government of the 1750s responded to the lack of initiative of its entrepreneurs by encouraging state capitalism, possibly inspired by the success of the French in establishing state-owned overseas trading companies.4 This was evident in the formation in Portugal of big state-sponsored commercial trading companies: in 1753 Companhia da Ásia (Asia Company); in 1755 Companhia do Grão Pará e do Maranhão (Grão Pará and Maranhão Company); in 1756 Companhia da Pesca da Baleia (Whale Fishery Company); and in 1756 Companhia da Agricultura dos Vinhos do Alto Douro (Alto Douro Wines Company) in Oporto.