I. NEWS

Passengers could get all information needed for the journey, price of transport, luggage and merchandise, layout of the land, distance between places, etc. through books, laws and by-laws, the press, post and later through the telegraph. Maps and plans were very useful but not very reliable as the trigonometrical studies were not applied.

Up to the XVIII, at home and abroad, there were many different units to measure weight, volume and longitude according to the district or town, wich caused many problems in commercial transactions. Here we have on show several instruments to measure longitude (compasses, rulers, tape measures, spanish yardstick, etc.); weight (dishes scales or trutine, Roman scales os statera, platform scales etc.); volume (wooden boxes, measuring metal containers).

The coins were: gold coins or doubloons, divided into escudos; silver coins or reals, divided into pesos duro, pesetas and reals; and copper coins. Royal bonds and bank notes came into use for the first time in Spain during the XVIII century.