Eder, Santiago Martín (1838–1921)

Santiago Martín Eder (b. 24 June 1838; d. 25 December 1921), Colombian agricultural entrepreneur. Born in Mitau, in present-day Latvia, Santiago emigrated in 1851 to the United States to join his brother Henry, who was engaged in various mercantile activities in California, Panama, and Chile. His Harvard law education sustained his later activities as U.S. consul in Buenaventura, but his family's commercial relations shaped his life.

In 1864 Eder purchased La Rita and La Manuelita plantations near Palmira to develop export agriculture. After spotty success with tobacco, indigo, coffee, and sugar, Eder devoted himself to the general economic development of the Cauca Valley. His investments in the Buenaventura-Cali railroad, the Cauca steamship company, and various banks in Cali placed him at the fore of regional developers. Eder's son Charles married the daughter of Italian entrepreneur Ernesto Cerruti and assumed control of the family's Cauca properties. Another son, Phanor, became active in international commerce and law. The Manuelita mill, completely modernized by 1903, became the country's leading producer of domestically consumed refined sugar.

See alsoAgriculture; Sugar Industry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Phanor J. Eder, El fundador: Santiago M. Eder (1959).

Carlos Davila L. De Guevara, El empresariado colombiano: Una perspectiva histórica (1986), pp. 52-67.

Additional Bibliography

Dávila L de Guevara, Carlos. Empresas y empresarios en la historia de Colombia: Siglos XIX-XX: Una colección de estudios recientes. Bogotá: Naciones Unidas, CEPAL: Norma: Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Administración: Ediciones Uniandes, 2003.

                                            David Sowell