Irisarri y Larraín, Juan Bautista (c. 1740–1805)

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Irisarri y Larraín, Juan Bautista (c. 1740–1805)

Juan Bautista Irisarri y Larraín (b. ca. 15 February 1740; d. 4 May 1805), Guatemalan merchant, banker, and planter. Irisarri was born in Aranaz, Spain. After coming to Guatemala he was successful in finance, commerce, and indigo production. By 1805 he was regarded as the wealthiest man in the kingdom. An active member of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Guatemala, he especially promoted the development of a Pacific coast port in the late colonial period. His second marriage linked him to the prominent creole Arrivillaga family. He also had family ties in Chile, where his illustrious son, Antonio José (1786–1868), migrated after independence.

See alsoIrisarri, Antonio José de .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Edgar Juan Aparicio y Aparicio, "La familia de Irisarri," in Revista de la Academia guatemalteca de estudios genealógicos, heráldicos e históricos 1 (1967): 17-25.

Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., Class Privilege and Economic Development: The Consulado de Comercio of Guatemala, 1793–1871 (1966).

Additional Bibliography

García Bauer, Carlos. Antonio José Irisarri: Insigne escritor y polifacético prócer de la independencia americana. Guatemala: Tipografía Nacional de Guatemala, 2002.

                                Ralph Lee Woodward Jr.

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