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The direct impact of the oil industry was felt first in Zulia State, and only later in the rest of the country. Zulia's socio-economic structure was severely disrupted by the oil boom because it created a scarcity of labour for the traditional agricultural sector, and because it had a tremendous inflationary effect on the local economy. The oil boom, however, stimulated the expansion of the commercial elite of the country which during the 1920s and 1930s strengthened its position within the economy to the detriment of the agricultural elite. Although the period was one in which agriculture was in decline, it should be noted that up to 1936 it contributed substantially to the country's economic growth: for example, according to Rangel, Táchira State's agricultural production and exports (coffee and cattle) continued to rise during the 1920s. Nevertheless, the disparity between the oil and agricultural sectors widened during this period. Venezuela's total trade during Gómez's regime increased enormously: for example, between 1908 and 1929 exports increased from Bs.83 million to Bs.739 million, a 790 per cent increase due mainly to the oil boom of the 1920s. Oil exports during the mid-1920s displaced traditional exports of coffee and cocoa. The traditional markets for Venezuelan exports were the U.S., France, and Germany, while Britain was the largest single supplier of foreign goods. During the First World War, when European markets were closed and there was a lack of adequate transport facilities, the U.S. increased its trade with the whole of South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The European or North American who visited Latin America in the years before 1870 invariably came away struck by the diversity of the area – in geography, in people, in environment. Cities there were. Indeed cities had played a dominant role in the development of Spanish America at least, even when they contained only a small percentage of the area's total population. But generally they appeared small, poor and broken down. Far more impressive was the countryside of Latin America – the imposing Andean mountains, the vast Amazonian jungle, the endless grasslands of the llanos or the pampas, the picturesque Indian hamlets, the enormous landed estates. Consequently it was rural Latin America that most vividly emerged from the travel accounts, letters and dispatches of the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, a bird's eye view of the Latin American city in 1870 will set the stage for the dramatic changes that the ensuing decades brought to the area's urban landscape. Even the largest Latin American cities appeared small, in large measure because of their plaza-orientation. Both the residences of the wealthy and the powerful and the principal urban activities of administration, services and trade were concentrated around the central plaza. Rio de Janeiro, Havana, Mexico City and Buenos Aires all had central districts of only a few hundred blocks. These areas, often extending no more than five or ten blocks from the main plaza, had the appearance of an urbanized zone: substantial housing, paving, sidewalks and street lights. Located in this central district were markets, offices, stores, clubs, theatres, churches and schools to serve the elite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General trends During the period from independence until the middle of the nineteenth century – in general a period of economic stagnation, or only modest economic growth – the population of Latin America as a whole grew at a rate of about one per cent per annum. This was in line with the rate of growth of the more developed European countries but less than that of the United States. It was also lower than the rate of growth during the late colonial period, a rate which had been expected to continue or even to accelerate after independence. In Mesoamerica and the Andes, where subsistence agriculture predominated and where the population was predominantly Indian, population growth was slow, hindered by conditions which can only be described as Malthusian. For example, after 1825 the population of the central states of Mexico grew at annual compounded rates which varied between 0.4 and 1 per cent; the northeastern states of Veracruz and Chiapas experienced somewhat higher rates of population growth; the population of the north-west and Yucatán decreased consistently until the 1870s. The regions of Latin America suitable for the cultivation of staples in demand in the industrializing European countries witnessed somewhat more dynamic demographic growth. Although the population there was generally sparse, it tended to increase faster. For example, the expansion in cattle raising was responsible for populating the pampas of the River Plate area. The rural population of the province of Buenos Aires – excluding the capital – increased at a staggering annual rate of 4.2 per cent between 1836 and 1855. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Don Antonio de Amar y Borbón arrived at Bogotá in September 1803 to take up his post as viceroy, he took command of a territory that, in spite of all Spain's difficulties following the resumption of war with the British in 1804, was apparently secure under the government of the metropolitan power. The celebrations surrounding Amar y Borbón's inauguration were lavish and good humored, and his predecessor, Viceroy Pedro de Mendinueta, handed over office with a relación de mando that was positive and reassuring in its tone. Mendinueta warned Amar y Borbón to sustain vigilance against foreign subversion, to prevent the entry of foreign books and papers that might be harmful to religion and the state, and to be alert for “a philosophical fanaticism, and above all a spirit of novelty, (which) might turn a few heads, inducing them to accept notions which they indiscreetly profess as their own ideas.” But he concluded his relación de mando on a heartening note, stating that, despite some minor disturbances to public order, he had the satisfaction to hand over a territory in a “state of tranquillity, so that Your Excellency might discharge his responsibilities for the common good.” And Amar y Borbón did indeed pass a few uneventful years as viceroy, in which none of his experience as a high-ranking military commander in Spain was needed to manage the affairs of a land that, whatever the underlying disaffections of elements in its population, showed no obvious signs of unrest or political instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In New Granada, the overhaul of colonial government instigated by José de Gálvez began in January 1778, when Juan Francisco Gutiérrez de Piñeres arrived in Santa Fe de Bogotá to take up his post as regent and visitor general of the audiencia of New Granada. The visita general entrusted to Gutiérrez de Piñeres involved a major review of colonial government in all of the important areas of administration. In some respects, the visitor general's objectives were familiar ones. Like the viceroys, he was expected to make colonial government more receptive to central command, to increase revenues, and to harden military defenses. There were, however, important differences. As visitor general, Gutiérrez de Piñeres was enjoined and empowered to act quickly, he sought to bring about rapid change over a broad front, and he was ready to employ forceful methods. Nor was his mission limited to reform within the existing framework of government. As was common with the general inspectors sent to Peru and Chile, Gutiérrez de Piñeres was required to report on the most appropriate means of introducing the system of intendancies, which was the key to Gálvez's plans for the regeneration of royal government in the Americas. The immediate task for the visitor general was laid out in the instructions he received before leaving Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lynchpin of Caroline economic reform was the Reglamento de comercio libre of 1778 which, by providing for greater freedom for trade within the empire, offered the prospect of unlocking the economic potential of the Hispanic world. The main provisions of the Reglamento may be briefly stated. First, and most important, it released colonial trade from the constraints of the old commercial system, pivoted on Cádiz and dominated by a privileged oligarchy of Andalusian merchants. In 1778, the Cádiz monopoly was formally ended and henceforth all the major Spanish and Spanish American ports were open to trade with each other. To promote colonial commerce, the Reglamento also reduced the many restraints that affected transatlantic shipping and trade. Thus the formalities required to ship cargoes to the Americas were relaxed, several traditional impositions on shipping and trade were abolished, and duties on trade were both standardized and reduced. Steps to enlarge the scale of Spain's trade with its colonies were, moreover, matched by measures to promote trade in Spanish products, so as to stimulate growth and development in metropolitan agriculture and industry. To this end, differential tariffs were placed on exports from Spain to its colonies, forcing foreign products to pay heavier duties than goods made in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To trace the origins of the Spanish colonial society that later became the Republic of Colombia, we must return to the opening decades of the sixteenth century, when Spaniards ranged along the coast between Cabo de la Vela and the Isthmus of Panama, searching for gold and slaves. Experiments in permanent settlement on these mainland shores started early. Alonso de Ojeda founded the first colony in Colombian territory at San Sebastián de Urabá in 1510, after his raids in the Cartagena region had been repelled by belligerent local tribes. Further Indian hostility, again provoked by Spanish slaving raids, forced another move west, to Darién, where the Spaniards founded a new base at Santa María de la Antigua. Again, the colony was short-lived. Stricken by disease, the local Indians became incapable of supporting the Europeans' parasitic community, and in 1524 Santa María de la Antigua was abandoned. Yet again, the Spaniards moved west, this time to Panama, which, as Castilla del Oro (“Golden Castile”), became a fresh focus for Spanish activity. Then, in 1526, other Spaniards created another, quite distinct base in Colombian territory, at the eastern end of the Caribbean coast: by founding Santa Marta, they opened what was to become a crucial frontier for conquest in Colombia's interior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]