Research:2019-01-01/Journal article/las-nuevas-periferias-americanas-en-la-circulación-de-cáñamo-y-jarcia-para-la-construcción-naval-militar-españ

ResearchJournal article1 January 2019

Las nuevas periferias americanas en la circulación de cáñamo y jarcia para la construcción naval militar española en el siglo XVIII

Manuel Díaz Ordóñez

Magallánica: Revista de Historia Moderna

Study of how Spain supplied hemp cordage, sailcloth and matchcord to its American possessions in the 18th century and how hemp grown in the Americas circulated along the Pacific coast, set within the "contractor state" literature on mobilising resources for war. Díaz Ordóñez describes Spanish searches from Mexico to Peru that found no hemp, wild or cultivated, followed by trials of local fibres such as agave, majagua and caraguatá that the reports judged inferior to European hemp, above all in resisting seawater. Manufactured cordage and sails crossed from Cádiz with the Carrera de Indias fleets and went overland from Veracruz to Acapulco for the Manila galleon and the ships at Cavite. After the 16th century, he writes, hemp was grown profitably only around Quillota and La Ligua in Chile; it was shipped from Valparaíso, Papudo and Coquimbo to Lima, Quito and the yards of El Callao, Guayaquil and El Realejo. Experiments near Mexico City from 1775 yielded little, while late 18th-century harvests in California were directed to the naval base at San Blas and ships on the Philippine route. Two maps chart hemp production and trade circuits. The article concerns hemp grown for fibre.

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2019-01-01 2026-10-04 Las nuevas periferias americanas en la circulación de cáñamo y jarcia para la construcción naval militar española en el siglo XVIII Journal article Manuel Díaz Ordóñez Magallánica: Revista de Historia Moderna 2019 https://fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/index.php/magallanica/article/view/3900 https://fh.mdp.edu.ar/revistas/index.php/magallanica/article/download/3900/3994 Study of how Spain supplied hemp cordage, sailcloth and matchcord to its American possessions in the 18th century and how hemp grown in the Americas circulated along the Pacific coast, set within the "contractor state" literature on mobilising resources for war. Díaz Ordóñez describes Spanish searches from Mexico to Peru that found no hemp, wild or cultivated, followed by trials of local fibres such as agave, majagua and caraguatá that the reports judged inferior to European hemp, above all in resisting seawater. Manufactured cordage and sails crossed from Cádiz with the Carrera de Indias fleets and went overland from Veracruz to Acapulco for the Manila galleon and the ships at Cavite. After the 16th century, he writes, hemp was grown profitably only around Quillota and La Ligua in Chile; it was shipped from Valparaíso, Papudo and Coquimbo to Lima, Quito and the yards of El Callao, Guayaquil and El Realejo. Experiments near Mexico City from 1775 yielded little, while late 18th-century harvests in California were directed to the naval base at San Blas and ships on the Philippine route. Two maps chart hemp production and trade circuits. The article concerns hemp grown for fibre.