Maracaibo's agro-exporting circuit in the middle of the 19th century

Abstract

During the second half of the 19^th century Maracaibo, capital city of the State of Zulia in Venezuela, showed a significant economic growth caused by the expansion and consolidation of an agro-exporting circuit in the West of Venezuela and northeastern region of Colombia comparable in importance with those established around La Guaira and Puerto Cabello. Its privileged location -between the Caribean coast and the end of the extensive basin of Lake Maracaibo- made it the principal regional port of the greatest importance for two countries: Venezuela and Colombia. Between 1830 and 1860 the production and marketing of Andian coffee raised Maracaibo's customhouse from a distant fourth place lo the first one among those that mobilised greater sums of money in Venezuela. The analysis of Maracaibo's agroexporting circuit revealed the historical coexistence in Venezuela of economically autonomous regions with local commercialand financial elites: a country not yet integrated by a home market and with a weak political unity. These considerations are of the greatest interest in the discussion and elucidation of the formation process of the national state, the emergence of a venezuelan ruling class, and the consolidation of the home territory.

Key words: Commerce, merchants, smuggling, commercial circuit, agricultural production, coffee, ports, transport, communication, historical region, foreign inmigration, Maracaibo, Zulia, Andes, Venezuela, Santander, Nueva Granada, Colombia, Caribe.