Description
Britain shaped the political and economic configuration of the colonies in the British Empire, leaving behind legacies that remain relevant today. British interests nonetheless, went beyond the boundaries of its colonies. This research asks the question: How did 19th-century British economic interests contribute to shaping the enduring extractive dynamics and exploitative labour patterns in Latin America? and is based on archival research conducted at the special collections of the Senate House Library and the British Library. The opportunity to access natural riches previously controlled by (primarily) the Spanish empire was a strong incentive to develop economic links with Latin American countries. This paper explores these economic links, values, and dynamics that contributed to establishing economic priorities at the early stages of national development. The economic interests included a continuation of extractive dynamics and exploitative labour patterns that paved the way for the current political and economic configuration of Latin America. This work relates to the conference theme of histories that are marginal to the discipline identity in the areas of Postcolonialism and IPE. The indirect approaches in which imperial powers contributed to shaping contemporary political and economic configurations are histories that need to be taken into account to better understand the region.
