Gibbs and Sons, Antony
Gibbs and Sons, Antony
Antony Gibbs and Sons, a British merchant house that began operating in Peru shortly after independence in 1822. It was designated by the Peruvian state as the principal contractor or supplier of guano to Great Britain between 1842 and 1861. As such, Gibbs became a major financier to the Peruvian state during the so-called guano boom between 1840 and 1880. In a major economic and political shift, Gibbs was then deposed as consignee in 1862 by a group of native contractors, which included future president Manuel Pardo, who held the contract until 1869. Later, in a similar arrangement, Gibbs became the sole supplier of nitrates from southern Peru after the expropriation of the industry by the Pardo administration in 1875. The company continued to do business in Peru long after both the guano and nitrate booms ended in Peru in the late 1870s.
See alsoGuano Industry; Nitrate Industry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. M. Mathew, The House of Gibbs and the Peruvian Guano Monopoly (1981).
Additional Bibliography
Gootenberg, Paul. Imagining Development Economic Ideas in Peru's "Fictitious Prosperity" of Guano, 1840–1880. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Raimondi, Antonio, and Luis Felipe Villacorta O. Informes y polémicas sobre el guano y el salitre: Perú, 1854–1877. Lima: Fondo Editorial, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2003.
Peter F. KlarÉn