Haciendas and economic development : Guadalajara, Mexico, at independence / by Richard B. Lindley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lindley, Richard B. (Richard Barry), 1945- author.

Series:

Latin American monographs (University of Texas at Austin. Institute of Latin American Studies) ; Number 58.

Latin American Monograph ; Number 58

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Elite (Social sciences)--Mexico--Guadalajara Region--History.

Elite (Social sciences).

Haciendas--Mexico--Guadalajara Region--History.

Haciendas.

Guadalajara Region (Mexico)--Economic conditions.

Guadalajara Region (Mexico).

Guadalajara (Mexico)--History.

Guadalajara (Mexico).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (173 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Austin, Texas : University of Texas Press, 1983.

Summary:

Agriculture, commerce, and mining were the engines that drove New Spain, and past historians have treated these economic categories as sociological phenomena as well. For these historians, society in eighteenth-century New Spain was comprised, on the one hand, of creoles, feudalistic land barons who were natives of the New World, and, on the other, of peninsulars, progressive, urban merchants born on the Iberian peninsula. In their view, creole-peninsular resentment ultimately led to the wars for independence that took place in the American hemisphere in the early nineteenth century. Richard B. Lindley’s study of Guadalajara’s wealthy citizens on the eve of independence contradicts this view, clearly demonstrating that landowners, merchants, creoles, and peninsulars, through intermarriage, formed large family enterprises with mixed agricultural, commercial, and mining interests. These family enterprises subdued potential conflicts of interest between Spaniards and Americans, making partners of potential competitors. When the wars for national independence began in 1810, Spain’s ability to protect its colonies from outside influence was destroyed. The resultant influx of British trade goods and finance shook the structure of colonial society, as abundant British capital quickly reduced the capital shortage that had been the main reason for large-scale, diversified family businesses. Elite family enterprises survived, but became less traditional and more specialized institutions. This transformation from traditional, personalized community relations to modern, anonymous corporations, with all that it implied for government and productivity, constitutes the real revolution that began in 1810.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Tables

Map

Acknowledgments

A Note on Sources and Dates

Introduction

1. City and Countryside

The City

The Countryside

2. Credit and Kinship

Credit

Kinship

3. Four Elite Family Enterprises

The Villasenor Entail

The Porres Baranda Entail

The Portillo Family Enterprise

The del Rio-Pacheco Family Enterprise

4. Effects of Independence

Independence in Guadalajara

Foreign Merchants

New Sources of Capital

Introduction of Business Corporations

Decline of Traditional Credit Sources

Changes in Credit Availability

Creation of an Open Land Market

Survival and Adaptation of Family Enterprises

Conclusion

Notes

Appendix: Genealogies of Four Family Enterprises

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4773-0460-6

OCLC:

1286807427