Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
In the Latin American context there are few regions which defy the commonly accepted idea of dependent development and the late start of the process of industrial growth following the great crisis of 1929. Among these few, Northeastern Mexico, with its industrial capital Monterrey, appears to offer the best example of a large industrial spurt occurring towards the end of the nineteenth century. During the two decades from 1890 to 1910 important industrial complexes, basically metallurgic and siderurgic factories, began to operate in this region, creating an impressive network of related activities and making possible considerable growth in the local demand for both consumption goods and semi-manufactured items. The statistics on industrial production reveal the importance of the process: during the years 1897,1898 and 1899 the metallurgic sector in Nuevo León produced goods worth 50,847,178 pesos. This represented 23.5% of total Mexican production, making it the most important state in the nation. By 1902, Nuevo León was also in first place as far as total industrial production was concerned, accounting for 13.5% of the national production.
This article is a revised edition of a paper presented at the IX LASA National Meeting in Bloomington, Indiana. The authors wish to thank John Coatsworth, Carlos Sempat Assadourian, Mario Cerutti and Alexander Saragoza for their commentaries.
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