Abstract

This paper deals with the impact of ‘early’ nineteenth-century globalization (c. 1815–1860) on foreign trade in the Southern Cone (SC). Most of the evidence is drawn from bilateral trades between Britain and the SC, at a time when Britain was the main commercial partner of the new republics. The main conclusion drawn is that early globalization had a positive impact on foreign trade in the SC, and this was due to: improvements in the SC’s terms of trade during this period; the SC’s per capita consumption of textiles (the main commodity traded on world markets at that time) increased substantially during this period, at a time when clothing was one of the main items of SC household budgets. British merchants brought with them capital, shipping, insurance, and also facilitated the formation of vast global networks, which further promoted the SC’s exports to a wider range of outlets.