Boom Guanero in Peru 1845 – 1866
To what extent did the Guanero boom generate a favorable impact on the Peruvian economy between 1845-1866?
During the 1845-1966, the Guano’s trade began to be one of the maximum economic activities of the Peruvian State, a period known as Boom Guanero, characterized by the economic boom that the country lived. Therefore, this historical research responds to the following issue: to what extent does the Guanero boom generate a favorable impact on the Peruvian economy between the 1845-1866 years? The two sources selected for the objective development of this research are secondary;The first offers information on the impact of the boom boom in the republican economy and the wealth product of the exploitation of the guano enjoyed by the Peruvian State in the mid -nineteenth century, and the second, evaluates the marketing process, the economic importance of the guanoFor Peru and presents an analysis of the considerable riches and changes generated by the exploitation of the guano. In these selected sources the authors carry out a deep analysis and interpretation of the Guanero boom and their impact on the Peruvian economy, in the same way they contrast and compare information and develop the boom as a central theme based on memories, archives, reports and magazines of the time.
Source A: Tantaleán Arbulú, Javier. (2011). “Governance and Guanero Leviathan. Development, crisis and war with Chile.”Lima: BCRP – IEP, 1st Edition
The value of this source lies in its origin because it was written by a renowned heterodox historian of the pre -Hispanic world, a PhD in Economic Development History, highlighted by its having conducted a series of research referring to the Guanero boom in Peru. Likewise, in the purpose because the author seeks to discuss to what extent the Boom Guanero genus a favorable impact on the Peruvian economy and the economic trance of Peru after the Guaneras sales in the mid -nineteenth century;In the same way in its content, since it intertwines currents and research issues on the guano period around the notion of governance and levitan gar. In the same way, the investigation around the wealth enjoyed by the Peruvian state from the Guanera exploitation in the mid -nineteenth century that seemed the propitious occasion so that the country could collect a historical rematch on the path of prosperity and economic development and economic development.
However, one of the possible limitations lies in the content, because, in some paragraphs it notes a narrative-descriptive style with anecdotal tendency on the events that happened during the Guanero boom. However, in this research these resources are used for the analysis and evaluation of the role that guano performance in the Peruvian economy performed.
Source B: Guano and bourgeoisie in Peru, Heraclio Bonilla, 1984, 2nd edition
The value of this secondary source lies in its origin, as Bonilla is a Peruvian historian with a doctorate in the specialty of economic history, highlighted by carrying out his best works in the economic approach, he has also been considered as an exponent of the ‘turning point’ he reachedPeruvian historiography since the beginning of the 70s. On the other hand, the purpose is also valuable because the historian focuses on evaluating the impact of the exploitation of guano on the economic and political structure of Peru in the second half of the 19th century. Also, in the content, because it seeks to dismant, could be the axis of its economic development, based primarily on primary sources such as the archives of France and England.
However, one of the possible limitations lies in the content, because for the thorough style of the source, it incorporates abundant unnecessary information about events that occurred two centuries before. However, in this investigation these are used for inference and evaluation of the Guanero boom in the Peruvian economy.
Research:
The 1840s meant the beginning of certain economic and political stability for the Peruvian State since, after its independence, it suffered a very critical situation regarding its economy because it is definitely devastated. However, Peru’s opportunity to overcome this decline came from the discovery of an exquisite raw material for agriculture that no one had imagined before: the guano. This material product of the excrement of sea birds would have a great demand at a global level since in countries such as Europe, Asia and North America they sought to potentiate their industry;Therefore, they required effective fertilizers that ensure their progress in agriculture. As a result, commercialization had a positive impact on the Peruvian economy, making it a fallacious prosperity. All this within the period called, by the historian Jorge Basadre, the era of the Guano (1845-1866).
Demand for fertilizers for the industrialization process that was lived in Europe
The guano began to be used in a massive way becoming a matter of great economic and strategic value for Peru. As Tantaleán (2011) states, since 1840, the Peruvian State has had a resource that influenced public finances and some economic spaces. Achieving a great economic transformation in Peru, due to the income produced by this product, which began the "era of the guano", this product known since the pre -Hispanic time. In 1841 the Peruvian State was the owner of the Guano Deposits in the Islands and the most interested in taking the most out of it, the same year Francisco Quiroz, a Peruvian merchant signed a lease contract for the right of exploitation giving him in return 10 thousandAnnual pesos for 6 years, from there it was that Peru began to benefit by earning a strong amount of money every month.
In this course it was where more than eleven million tons of guano were sold in European and American markets by an estimate of seven hundred fifty million dollars, history known as a beggar to a millionaire (the era of the guano). As Peru can be evidenced, a process of great exports was living that little by little were developing the Peruvian economy. According to Tantaleán, one of the important effects generated by the Guanera Bonanza was the payment to the native creditors of the Peruvian State, a process that was mentioned as the beginning of economic and political reconstitution of the Peruvian ruling class. Alfonso Quiroz’s thesis argues that 60% of those consolidated were merchants and 36% public officials, between civilians and military. That is, that the process of consolidation of internal debt instead of initiating rather strengthened an enrichment process, and whose origins have to be sought elsewhere.
On the other hand, Bonilla (1984) assumes a different perspective than that of Tantaleán this evaluates the conditions in which the Peruvian economy was demonstrating the deficiency that the government possessed to take advantage of this beneficial resource and indicates that the British and French commercial houses that providedof capitals to face the expenses that the exploitation of the guano demanded favored, because they knew how to take advantage of the Peruvian political weakness, which was basically due to the lack of people prepared in the administration of the resources. Therefore, two perspectives on the factors that determined the possible failure of a progressive leap and that consequently influence the Peruvian economy are configured here. First, the ability of buyers to obtain benefits generated through certain opportunities that the State had at that time;And second, the poor administration of the vendors that resulted in the dependence of Peru to each company with whom it exercised contracts, thus reducing income that would be favorable to the people. There are also authors who highlight that:
Dutch disease, or Guanera disease, is only an element of a series of negative aspects associated with the export of primary products, all grouped in recent years under the label of "curse of natural resources". Other elements of the curse are identified with political instability, corruption and excessive indebtedness. Hunt, J (2011). Pg. 17.
The fact that Shane Hunt presents that the Peruvian economic situation was critical as Bonilla mentioned, and that the government necessarily had to resort to a pragmatic solution, which represents a fall in Peruvian economic stability.
At first, Heraclio Bonilla (1994) mentions, “specifically during the governments of Castile the changes were very noticeable, since the Peruvian economy reached its peak being one of the best in Latin America and thus giving the emergence of the great contractDreyfus ". Castilla achieved a lasting reputation by abolishing the indigenous contribution, causing a finite and increasingly exhausted natural resource in the deadline in the deadline. Because this served for the payment of internal and external debt in 1850, under the Ramón Castilla regime. Also in the end of the Guano, the Law of Consolidation of the Debt was approved, which consisted of the payment of the debts accumulated from the wars of independence, these debts would be constituted by the different loans, recognizing as credits against the State, bothof authorities as civilians and families who were willing to finance, or support, in some way, the independence of Peru since 1820.
The Guano helped the Peruvian economy a lot. That is why in 1841 the State will declare it as its main monopoly thus bringing two great significant changes in the long term. The first change was a new elite centered in Lima was capitalized with the transfer of public treasures funds being the primary appeal El Guano. The second long -term change was the creation of a socio -political base that allowed the triumph of the liberal state. Although the consolidation of the Peruvian economy and national debt opened the path to liberalism, its final emergence depended on other important measures taken throughout the Government of Ramón Castilla. Therefore, these conditions provided great expectations to the Peruvian government headed by Ramón Castilla, who sought to seek development with the exploitation of guaneras riches. Both Heraclio and Tantaleán coincide with the perspective that the impact initially generated by the Guanero boom in the economy of Peru was positive, because, with the profits the slavery and the death penalty were definitely abolished and the death penalty established and established policies for the promotion of extraction and export promotion ofnatural fertilizers (guano of islands) that begin an era of prosperity in the country. The first railroads and gas lighting arrive in Peru in this period, which increased the figures for Peru’s income. Among them we find: disposal of shaped vapors in the continent, transportation availability for the organization of exploration and colonization expeditions of the Amazon region, emergence of irrigation and construction companies of an extensive network of railways.
However, this impact was changing meaning for a bad administration, emphasizing that the guano even being an abundant raw material, it was not a finite resource, therefore, its end was determined by the continuous volumes that were delivered to commercial houses. Basadre (1939) mentions that the excessive export of the guano brought.
The impact and importance that the guano generated in the Peruvian economy has various approaches. An interpretation, suggested by Jonathan Levin (1960), is that he produced the classic economy of "enclave", with few links forward or backward that they stimulate national production. Consequently, there were few – if there was some – lasting development effects in the country. In this version, the richness of the guano was isolated from the rest of the country, financed and exploited by foreigners, and worked by a relatively small and servile workforce, without any purchasing power. The profits were sent abroad, dilapidated by corruption and bad state management, and consumed by a small elite in an orgy of sumptuaries. Hunt (1985, 1973) questioned the thesis of the "enclave" arguing that the guano produced a typical "rentier" economy, similar to colonial experience with silver. A economy of this type was able to gain a massive amount of foreign currencies with the export of a natural resource. The earnings of the Guanero trade did not dispersed abroad, as the Lewin enclave model maintained, but rather, a seventy -one percent net of what was received by sales controlled by the State orby national contractors, who distributed the benefits in a argumentably rational way. According to this interpretation, the real problem were the great and poorly designed state investment projects (for example, railroads), which failed to diversify the economy or create a new class of national entrepreneurs.
In conclusion, the Guanero boom generated a bidirectional economic impact, that is, after considering as a solution to the European agricultural situation, it provided an economic boom for Peru in terms of its raw material, since the money obtained was arranged to the treatment ofnational debts and improvements;But, the mishandling of this financial flow concluded in uneven and disproportionate railway investments and scarcely in agricultural activities, generating an economic decrease with irregular, critical and unbalanced results for Peru.
Reflection:
At the end of this research I understood that the historiographic method allows historians to reconstruct an event based on the analysis and evaluation of viable sources, although the arguments were built from evidence shown by historians, as well as direct extracts of Mariátegui’s essays. On the other hand, such a technique has its limitations, for example, the first source showed a partial perspective based on Marxism restricting access to the knowledge of the different guidelines that Peruvian socialism had. It is also clear that the nationalist approaches of essays sometimes exalt subjective aspects of history, consequently objectivity is dismissed in order to persuade the reader about the veracity of the content of the files. Definitely unlike mathematics, historians face the challenge of producing knowledge based on the different perspectives. In this work when studying the second source and other complementary ones they showed a different approach to socialism from an both philosophical and political and social field, allowing establishing contrast and similarity relationships that made it possible to defend a point of view. Such experience allowed us to understand the nature of historical work considering that in this area there is not always an absolute interpretation regarding a certain fact as in the case of mathematics where definitive results are obtained without contradictions. Finally, finding abundant information about Mariátegui’s ideology caused the choice of the most important sources for my research to become a difficult job even more because most historians intended to speak the strengths of this socialist doctrine. This last point is a limitation for the production of knowledge since the intentions of the authors and their level of objectivity can lead to investigations that defend a single position of the fact. Therefore, analyze the value and limitation of sources based on the origin and the purpose allowed to recognize which of them was the most reliable, this coupled with the recognition of the veracity of the evidence that researchers showed to build their arguments. In this sense, it is understandable that the importance of a historical fact is determined by historians since they recognize the transcendence of a character and the milestone that marks in a society.
References:
- Basadre, j. (1939). History of the Republic of Peru [1822-1933]. (t. 7 and Cap. 6). Lima: Cantabria and El Comercio (P. 12-13)
- Bonilla, h. (1984). Guano and bourgeoisie in Peru. (2nd ed.).Lima: IEP Editions Page. 19
- Dávalos, p. (2006). The first century Peru. (t. 4 and Cap. XV). p. 171
- Bonilla, h. p. 76
- Ratification Decree, August 17, 1869 written by Piérola in Lima.
- The negotiated Dreyfus before the Peruvian Legislature of 1870 (ed. Dedicated to the representatives of the Nation Havre), 1870. p. 6
- IPERU.org. (2016). José Balta and Montero. [José Balta y Montero, Constitutional President of Peru]. Recovered from https: // www.IPERU.Org/Jose-Balta-Y-Montero
Leave feedback