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The Indigo Merchant: Promoter of Central American Economic Development, 1750–1808

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Troy S. Floyd
Troy S. Floyd
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, University of New Mexico
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Abstract

Just as the colonial trade created commercial elites in Spain, so, too, did businessmen rise to economic and social importance in the New World. In Central America, for example, the marketers of indigo played an especially significant role.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , Winter 1965 , pp. 466 - 488
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1965

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References

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3 The immigrant merchants took up residence in the capital of the kingdom, Santiago de los Caballeros, the modern Antigua. The kingdom of Guatemala extended from Costa Rica through the present state of Chiapas, Mexico.

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5 Royal cedula, Buen Retiro, Dec. 16, 1753, Archivo Nacional de Guatemala (hereafter cited as ANG), exp. 21080, leg. 2588.

6 Royal cedula, Aranjuez, June 19, 1783, ANG, leg. 4631.

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10 Residencia of Capt. Gen. Pedro de Salazar, Guatemala, 1777, ANG, exp. 11570, leg. 1735. In the document, merchants declared their ages and their time of residence in the capital.

11 Smith, Robert S., “Origins of the Consulado of Guatemala,” Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. XXVI (May, 1946), p. 150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12 Smith, “Origins,” pp. 155, 157.

13 The twenty-one merchants listed in Table 1 exported almost 2,500,000 pounds of indigo in the eight-year period, 1778–1785. This was 60 per cent of the total production. While this by no means proves that all these particular merchants were, in the long run, successful, other tax records indicate that the great volume of commerce in all commodities was handled by a relatively few merchants.

14 Calderón, José Antonio Villacorta, Historia de la capitanía general de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1942), p. 155Google Scholar; Recopilación de leyes de los reinos de las Indias (4 vols., Madrid, 1841), vol. II, p. 137, editor's note.

15 Díaz Duran, José C., “Historia de la Casa de Moneda del Reino de Guatemala, desde 1731 hasta 1773,” ASGH, vol. XVIII (March, 1942), p. 209.Google Scholar The peso, which contained eight reales, was roughly equated with the dollar in English America.

16 Floyd, Troy S., “Bourbon Palliatives and the Central American Mining Industry, 1765–1800,” The Americas, vol. XVIII (October, 1961), p. 108.Google Scholar Whether there were 3,000,000 pesos in circulation by 1800, as one writer has estimated, would be difficult to determine. Fernández, Valentín Solórzano, Historia de la evolución económica de Guatemala (Mexico, 1947), p. 167.Google Scholar

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18 Merchants to CG, Guatemala, Sept. 9, 1780, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669.

19 Cuentas de alcabalas, 1778–85, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, legs. 754–55.

20 The word “provinces” is used here to indicate the administrative units of the kingdom. Those of Costa Rica and Chiapas were too distant to engage in mercantile relations in Guatemala; still others established years before were now practically depopulated.

21 Officials were required to post bond during their time in office; the money was refunded if they were cleared of all pecuniary responsibility by a post-term investigation.

22 Juan Ignacio Garzón to CG, Guatemala, May 24, 1775; Cargode las receptorías del reino, 1778, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 754. The provinces were actually designated the alcaldías mayores of San Salvador and Tegucigalpa, both smaller than the areas of the present-day nations, whose names are used here because of their familiarity.

23 Cuentas de alcabalas, 1778–85, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, legs.754–55.

24 Pedro de Sarriá to senior oidor, León, Nov. 15, 1765, Fernández, León (comp.), Colección de documentos para lahistoria de Costa Rica (10 vols., Rica, San José de Costa, 1881–1907), vol. X, p. 8Google Scholar; Francisco Quintanffla to senior oidor, San Vicente, Aug. 21, 1765, Boletín del archivo general del Gobierno [Guatemala], vol. II (July, 1937), p. 458.

25 Floyd, “Bourbon Palliatives,” p. 113.

26 Floyd, Troy S., “The Guatemalan Merchants, the Government, and the Provincianos, 1750–1800,” HAHR, vol. XLI (February, 1961), p. 100.Google Scholar

27 The fair at Apastepeque was called a “poor man's fair.” Merchants to CG, Guatemala, Sept 9, 1780, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669.

28 Residencia of Capt. Gen. Pedro de Salazar, Guatemala, 1777, ANG, exp. 11569, leg. 1735. That Santo Tomás was the main port on the Caribbean seems highly probable, although the evidence is not conclusive. All ships during Salazar's term (1765–1771) are reported arriving at this port. Although ships also called at Omoa, usually first, their only purpose in calling at Santo Tomás was to unload imports and load indigo which was, as indicated, the bulk of the export trade. In 1800, a writer in the Gazeta de Guatemala complained that the main volume of commerce moved between Santo Tomás and the capital. Gazeta de Guatemala, June 16, 1800, p. 275.

29 Shipping records, Guatemala and Cádiz, AGI, Indif. Gen., legs. 2445, 2447, 2449–53, 2184–92.

30 This legislation mainly applied to Cádiz. The Reglamento of 1778 which reduced taxes on trade was inapplicable in Guatemala, for the taxes by customhad not been paid for years in Santo Tomás; in fact, there was during most of this period no one there to collect them. The truth seems to be that Central American commerce rose during a time of relatively low taxes (1750–1782); after that, the costs of defense and the establishment of a planters’ fund placed a tax burden on the indigo industry which doubtless helped to bring the period of growth to a close. The main facts concerning the tax structure may be found in Chief Auditor to the crown, Guatemala, Dec. 2, 1790, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 831.

31 Royal cedula, Buen Retiro, Dec. 23, 1749, ANG, A1.23, leg. 4595.

32 Based on the produced figure of 1,089,636 Ibs. (see Table 2) compared with the amount snipped to each destination as indicated in Cuentas de alcabala, 1778, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 754.

33 Commerce was valued at 600,000 pesos in 1742. García Peláez, Memorias, vol. III, p. 13.

34 Sánchez, Manuel Rubio, “El añil o xiquilite,” ASGH, vol. XXVI (September-December, 1952), p. 326.Google Scholar

35 Floyd, “The Guatemalan Merchants,” p. 99.

36 A mule carried one zurrón (seroon) of indigo, which weighed about 212 pounds.

37 Cattle sales record, Guatemala, Oct. 22, 1795; Ayuntamiento of Guatemala to CG, Sept. 25, 1786, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 588.

38 Lake Izabal. Indigo was shipped by barges from here to Santo Tomás, located in the same bay as modern Puerto Barrios.

39 Merchants to CG, Guatemala, 1768, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669.

40 Merchants to CG, Guatemala, Sept. 9, 1780, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669.

41 Decrees, Guatemala, Sept. 19, 1771, Dee 3, 1771, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 668; Minutes, Santiago de Apastepeque, Nov. 1, 1772, ANG, exp. 16972, leg. 2304.

42 Statement of merchants, Guatemala, Feb. 25, 1794, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 668.

43 Merchants to CG, Guatemala, Oct. 17, 1782, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669; Luttrell to Stephens, Fort Omoa, Oct. 27, 1779, Kemble, Stephen, The kemble Papers (2 vols. [vols. XVI–XVII of Collections of the New York Historical Society], New York, 1884–1885), vol. II, p. 184.Google Scholar The captors estimated the prize at the equivalent of $3,000,000.

44 Royal order, San Salvador, Oct. 19, 1780, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669.

45 The program is discussed at length in Smith, Robert S., “Indigo Production and Trade in Colonial Guatemala,” HAHR, vol. XXIX (May, 1959), pp. 181–211.Google Scholar

46 Sept. 17, 1782 and Oct. 17, 1782, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, legs. 831, 669.

47 Royal order, Madrid, July 25, 1792, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 668. The fair had been transferred to San Salvador in 1787.

48 Merchants to pricing assembly, San Salvador, Nov. 1, 1791, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 669.

49 Intendant to crown, San Salvador, Sept. 28, 1789; General accounts of the Monte Pio, 1790–91, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, legs. 838, 668.

50 Statement of Juan Antonio de la Peña, n.p., 1781, ANG, exp. 422, leg. 24.

51 Various statements, Guatemala, 1781, ANG, exp. 422, leg. 24; Statement of Benito Gonzales Patiño, San Salvador, Aug. 14, 1793, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 588; Salazar, Ramón A., Los hombres de la independencia (Guatemala, 1899), pp. 174–75.Google Scholar

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53 Statements of Antonio Virto and Benito Gonzales Patiño, San Salvador, Aug. 14, 1793, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, leg. 588.

54 Patent of hidalguía of Gregorio de Urruela, Guatemala, June 1, 1793; Royal cedula, San Lorenzo, Oct. 26, 1793, ANG, A1.40, leg. 4799.

55 Statement of architect Marcos Ibáñez, Guatemala, Nov. 6, 1781, ANG, exp. 422, leg. 24; Cuentas de alcabalas, 1778–85, AGI, Aud. de Guatemala, legs. 754–755; Durán, Carlos Gándara, Biografía del Dr. Pedro Molina, prócer de la independencia de la América Central en 1821 (Guatemala, 1936), p. 37.Google Scholar

56 Based on signatures to many documents.

57 Cadena, Padre Felipe, Breve descripción de la ciudad de Santiagode Guatemala ([Guatemala], 1774), p. 47Google Scholar; Garcia, Miguel Angel (ed.), Diccionario histórico enciclopé dico de la república de El Salvador (13 vols., San Salvador, 1927–1951), vol. III, pp. 113–14Google Scholar; Royal cédula, Aranjuez, June 19, 1783, ANG, leg. 4631, fol 337v.

58 Statement of José Mariano Romá, Guatemala, Aug. 27, 1784, ANG, exp. 44975, leg. 1957.

59 Report of the hospital board, n.p., n.d., ANG, exp. 31161, leg. 4039.

60 Lanning, John Tate, The University in the Kingdom of Guatemala (Ithaca, 1955), p. 246.Google Scholar

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68 Indigo production was reported as only 536,475 lbs. in 1811. Dunn, Henry, Guatimala [sic], or, The United Provinces of Central America in 1827–28 (New York, 1828), p. 212.Google Scholar The locust plague, reported in the Gazeta, the revolutionary outbreaks in the provinces, and the disruption of shipping by the war would all tend to explain this decline.

69 Atkins, W. R. G., “Natural Indigo,” Science Progress, vol. XVI (July, 1921), p. 58Google Scholar; Verterli, W. A., “The History of Indigo,” Ciba Review, no. 85 (April, 1951), p. 3070.Google Scholar

70 Luque Alcalde, La Sociedad, p. 57.

71 Ibid., p. 163.

72 Salvatierra, vol. II, pp. 282–84; Salazar, Ramón A., Historia de veintiún años; la independencia de Guatemala (Guatemala, 1928), p. 114Google Scholar; Gazeta de Guatemala, Sept. 1, 1810, pp. 201–202Google Scholar.