The article treats the first results of a research about the coastal commerce and its relations with the colonial system and with the context of the independence. My thesis is that in small ports on shore of the captaincy of São Paulo, like Santos, there was a group of merchants with activities on coastal commerce who defended their concerns in this sector against the presence of stranger merchants. This discussion is supported on documents of Santos customhouse, like maps of exportationimportation, maps of ships, official letters wrote by governor and judge from customhouse and formal petition wrote by merchant strangers.
Portuguese Empire; merchants; coastal trade