Garmendia, Francisco
Garmendia, Francisco
Francisco Garmendia, nineteenth-century capitalist and early industrialist, Peruvian born in Argentina. In 1861, Garmendia established one of the first factories in Latin America, a textile factory in Lucre; he imported industrial machines from France and, in an impressive feat of entrepreneurship, transported them by mule across the southern Andes of Peru to the town of Quispicanchis, near Cuzco. The factory replaced the old colonial textile mills (obrajes) of that region. The woolen textile it produced was of a coarse quality targeted for purchase by the Indian population. The factory had chronic financial and technical problems and faced increasing competition by export-import commercial firms based in Arequipa, but remained in business as the only factory in Cuzco Department up to 1898.
See alsoTextile Industry: The Colonial Era .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alberto Flores Galindo, Arequipa y el sur andino: Ensayo de historia regional (siglos XVIII-XX) (1977).
Additional Bibliography
Contreras, Carlos. El aprendizaje del capitalismo: Estudios de historia económica y social del Perú republicano. Lima: IEP Ediciones, 2004.
Escandell Tur, Neus. Producción y comercio de tejidos coloniales: Los obrajes y chorrillos del Cusco, 1570–1820. Cusco, Perú: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos, Bartolomé de Las Casas, 1997.
Alfonso W. Quiroz