LATIN AMERICA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 191
for Latin American staples remained far below expectations. Free trade brought
increased commercial activity to the coasts, but this increase was offset by the
near destruction of some local craft industries by cheap, factory-made European
imports. The sluggish pace of economic activity and the relative absence of inter-
regional trade and true national markets encouraged local self-suffi ciency, isola-
tion, political instability, and even chaos.
As a result of these factors, the period from about 1820 to about 1870 was formany Latin American countries an age of violence, alternating dictatorship and
revolution in a collective postcolonial struggle to construct distinctive national
identities. Its symbol was the caudillo (strongman), whose power was always
based on force, no matter what kind of constitution the country had. Usually the
caudillo ruled with the aid of a coalition of lesser caudillos, each supreme in his
region. Whatever their methods, the caudillos generally displayed some regard
for republican ideology and institutions. Political parties, bearing such labels as
“Conservative” and “Liberal,” “Unitarian” and “Federalist,” were active in most
of the new states. Conservatism drew most of its support from the great landown-
ers and their urban allies. Liberalism typically attracted provincial landowners,
professional men, and other groups that had enjoyed little power in the past and
were dissatisfi ed with the existing order. As a rule, Conservatives sought to retain
many of the social arrangements of the colonial era and favored a highly central-
ized government. Liberals, often inspired by the example of the United States, usu-
ally advocated a federal form of government, guarantees of individual rights, lay
control of education, and an end to special privileges for the clergy and military.
Neither party displayed much interest in the problems of the native peasantry and
other lower-class groups.
Beginning in about 1870, the accelerating tempo of the Industrial Revolu-tion in Europe stimulated more rapid change in the Latin American economy and
politics. European capital fl owed into the area and was used to create the facili-
ties needed to expand and modernize production and trade. The pace and degree
of economic progress of the various countries were very uneven and depended
largely on their geographic position and natural resources.
Extreme one-sidedness was a feature of the new economic order. One or twoproducts became the basis of each country’s prosperity, making these commodi-
ties highly vulnerable to fl uctuations in world demand and price. Meanwhile,
other sectors of the economy remained stagnant or even declined through diver-
sion of labor and land to other industries.
The late-nineteenth-century expansion had two other characteristics: in themain, it took place within the framework of the hacienda system of land tenure
and labor, and it was accompanied by a steady growth of foreign control over the
natural and human-made resources of the region. Thus, by 1900 a new structure