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The Iron Works of Ybycui: Paraguayan Industrial Development in the Mid-Nineteenth Century*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Thomas Lyle Whigham
Thomas Lyle Whigham*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
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Extract

Paraguay, by the mid-nineteenth century, was alone among the South American nations in its policy of internal development and economic autonomy. Exemplifying this were the many independent efforts at modernizing the country and its economy, including the building of a railway, telegraph system, and perhaps most importantly, an iron foundry. Although many foreign advisers were hired for these projects, ultimate control and direction rested in the hands of the Paraguayans themselves.

Elsewhere throughout the continent a new British-dominated neocolonial order had taken firm root. Britain's diplomatic ventures at this time centered on the formation of alliances with such American metropolises as Lima and Buenos Aires. These compacts were built upon mutual interests in reconstructing the splintered Viceroyalties into viable political units under basically British hegemony. “The nail is driven,” wrote Foreign Secretary Canning in 1824, “Spanish America is free, and if we do not mismanage our affairs sadly, she is English.”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 35 , Issue 2 , October 1978 , pp. 201 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1978

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Footnotes

*

The author wishes to express his warmest thanks to Richard Alan White, David Sweet, H. Sanchez Quell, Jerry W. Cooney and M. Bruce Folsom for their help.

References

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7 Francia y Yegros al Comandante de Villarica (August 18, 1814), ANA—Sección Historica (hereafter SH) #223.

8 López, Bando (November 15, 1850), ANA—SH #383, referring to the executions of Gregorio Tindé and José Domingo Ñaguari.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 For examples see Ratos de Recompensa (December 31, 1855), ANA—NE #2739, and for the years 1857-60 in ANA—NE #766.

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16 Pérez Acosta, pp. 49–50.

17 Ibid., p. 123 (375 pesos silver, and equal amount in paper for Godwin per semester).

18 Ibid, p. 125.

19 El Paraguayo Independiente, #113 (June 19, 1852).

20 At this point specific cost expectations and production goals were outlined to Liliedad, Pérez Acosta, pp. 126–7.

21 Ibid., pp. 128–9.

22 The first cartloads of imported iron implements had arrived at the foundry on August 26, 1853, and the necessary machinery was ready for use by November (see Pérez Acosta, pp. 129–32).

23 Ibid., p. 131.

24 For examples of different supplies obtained at this period (food, medicines, iron instruments) see Augusto Liliedad al senor Encargado del Ramo de Guerra (December 14, 1853), ANA—NE #1508; Pérez Acosta, p. 138–9.

25 Ibid., p. 135.

26 El Seminario, #40 (March 31, 1854) p. 3.

27 Prudencio Silvera a Carlos Antonio López (March 29, 1854), ANA—SH #313.

28 Pérez Acosta, pp. 100–4.

29 For a full reference to Aquino's early status see ANA—Libro de Caxa (hereafter LC) #57, p. 474.

30 Aquino y Liliedad al senor Encargado del Ramo de Guerra, ANA—SH #310.

31 Pérez Acosta, p. 178.

32 Ibid., pp. 148–50.

33 Liliedad had been censured by Aquino for maltreatment of workers; see Pérez Acosta, pp. 148–50.

34 Aquino a Carlos Antonio López (January 30, 1855), ANA—SH #315.

35 Aquino a oficial Encargado del Ramo de Guerra (March 12, 1855), ANA—NE #3167.

36 White, p. 183.

37 Notes on the canalization of the River Ibiquy between the Fábrica Nacional at Rosado, and its Junction with the River Tebiquari, W. K. Whytehead (February, 1855), ANA—SH #315.

38 Richardson to Whytehead (May, 1856?), ANA—NE #637.

39 W. K. Whytehead a Carlos Antonio López (January, 1857?), ANA—SH #312. For further information on the role of British engineers at the iron works, see, Plá, Josefina, The British in Paraguay, 1850–1870. Translated by MacDermot, Brian C. (Richmond, Richmond Publishing Company, 1976).Google Scholar

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43 Pérez Acosta, p. 171.

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48 Ibid., pp. 529–32.

49 For iron imports (particularly for use at the railway project) for 1862, refer to ANA—LC #63 (October 15, October 19, and November 5).

50 Although the actual treaty creating the Triple Alliance between Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, was not signed until May 1, 1865, the formation of the pact undoubtedly dates from this time. According to Pelham Horton Box, “Thirty years later he (Saraiva, the Brazilian envoy) was to claim that the conferences … between the Argentine and Brazilian envoys and Flores were the veritable foundations of the Triple Alliance.” See Box, , Horton, Pelham, Origins of the Paraguayan War (New York, 1930), p. 145.Google Scholar

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53 El Seminario #586 (July 15, 1865).

54 Pérez Acosta, pp. 179–83.

55 El Seminario #677 (April 13, 1867).

56 Ibid., #694 (August 11, 1867).

57 Ynsfran a … López (September 30, 1868), Biblioteca Nacional de Rio De Janeiro (hereafter BNRJ), Coleçâo Rio Branco, 1–30, 14, 162, #1–3 (catalog #4867).

58 Ynsfran a… Ministro de Guerra y Marina (March 31,1868), BNRL, Coleçâo Rio Branco, 1–30, 14, 154–58 (catalog #4588), mentions maintenance for 162 prisoners, many Brazilian.

59 Pérez Acosta, p. 174.

60 Ibid., p. 193.

61 Ibid.

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63 Ibid.

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65 ANA—NE #2794.

66 Mellid, García, Atilio, , Proceso a los falsificadores de la historia del Paraguay (Asunción, 1963).Google Scholar

67 There were surviving in the country only 28,000 men; women over fifteen were said to outnumber men four to one. Kolinski, , Charles, J., Independence or Death! The Story of the Paraguayan War (Gainesville, 1965), p. 198.Google Scholar