Poles of flour mills in South America (16th Century)

Abstract

This paper examines the main flour mills that emerged in South America during the first century of Spanish conquest. It explores where the mills were established and what were their natural and cultural constraints. It also examines the effects of the mills on colonial society and their links with other economic activities, such as agriculture, mining, and trade. It is found that the installation of mills was a general impulse in all Spanish cities and not in Portuguese cities, whose first mills were installed in the 17th century. Within the Spanish colonies, the opening of flour mills was not related to the magnitude of wheat production, due to the high demand of the European population to maintain the Mediterranean diet. Paradoxically, Buenos Aires, the future – “breadbasket”- of the world, did not develop hydro-milling, while Venezuela and New Kingdom of Granada did, despite their low wheat production; likewise, the main milling pole emerged in Chuquisaca, stimulated by the technological transfer from the metal mills of Potosí, a process that did not occur with the mills of Venezuela or with the gold mining of New Kingdom of Granada. In all cases, the mills provided food and monetary stability in a period marked by tensions and wars, as well as they contributed to the consolidation of cities and the strengthening of institutions such as Royal Justice Courts and universities.

ARK CAICYT: https://id.caicyt.gov.ar/ark:/s16688090/8fj6dia59