La economía antioqueña antes de la Independencia, 1760-1821 (Economy in Antioquia before Independence, 1760-1821)

Abstract

Based on the most important historiography, this article reviews the economic history of the region of Antioquia during the period 1760-1810, showing the most significant changes in the structures and, particularly, in the dynamic relations between different economic sectors. Bearing in mind the differentiation and specialization of the different Neogranadine regions, the particularities of the Antioquia case are evident, characterized by the sustained growth of the population, an accelerated process of miscegenation, the decomposition of slavery, and the predominance of a free and multiethnic population. It was precisely this economic agent which allowed to understand the development of gold mining in the hands of the so-called “mazamorreros”, whose consumption capacity explains the proliferation of people engaged in trade and, in turn, the creation of an internal market.