Date of Award
12-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
Committee Member
Dr. Rachel Moore, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Stephanie Barczewski
Committee Member
Dr. Steven Marks
Abstract
The English mercantile house of Gibbs emerged alongside many other foreign merchant houses in the years after independence in South American countries, and they were active mostly in Peru, holding a virtual monopoly on Peruvian guano, from 1842 until 1861. Unlike many other merchants who dealt with private companies, Gibbs worked directly on a commission basis with the government of Peru and loaned money to the government in advance of sales. By the time Gibbs left the guano trade in 1861, the government was the stronger party. South American societies regarded the foreign merchants as parasites, “producing and contributing nothing.†Yet merchants were critical to trade in South America in the nineteenth century. Historians have countered the arguments, especially in the second half of the twentieth century when interest in South America peaked, that they were simply middlemen who never contributed to the trade. They moved goods, performed specialized functions that local businessmen were not equipped to handle, and bore the risk of transporting goods from producers to consumers overseas. They had access to contacts, overseas markets, money, and credit. The house of Gibbs was typical in that they had the money, contacts, sources, and personnel located in South America, and they performed similar day-to-day tasks of other foreign merchants. Gibbs was atypical, however, because they worked directly with the government on a commission basis and the government dictated the terms of their contracts, including how long they could export guano, where they could export it to, how much they could sell it for, and how much they could take. As will be seen in the case of the guano trade in Peru, the large, foreign mercantile houses, especially Gibbs, were critical to the survival of the trade.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Megan L., "The English House of Gibbs in Peru's Guano Trade in the Nineteenth Century" (2017). All Theses. 2791.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2791