BRITAIN AND LATIN AMERICA BEFORE 1940

Britain was the most important economic partner for most Latin American countries in the nineteenth century, but by the opening of the Second World War its influence was much less than that of the United States. We should consider the extent to which the British exercised control over the policies of Latin American governments and over Latin American economic development; the reasons why the nature of the British connexion varied from one country to another; and the reasons for the decline of the British and the consequences for Latin America.

There is a lot of reading on this topic; for overviews see

*L. Bethell, `Britain and Latin America before 1950', in V. Bulmer-Thomas (ed.), Britain and Latin America: a changing relationship

P. Cain & A.G. Hopkins, British Imperialism [this is a two-volume work divided at 1914; there is a chapter on Latin America in each volume]

C. Marichal, A Century of Debt Crises in Latin America [on investment]

*R. Miller, Britain and Latin America in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries [reliable but tedious]

For an impression of different approaches to the key country, Argentina, read

H.S. Ferns, `Britain's Informal Empire in Argentina, 1806-1914', PP 4 (1953), 60-75

C.A. Jones, `"Business Imperialism" and Argentina: a theoretical note', JLAS 12 (1980), 437-444

A. Thompson, `Informal Empire? An exploration in the history of Anglo-Argentine relations', JLAS 24 (1992), 419-436

A.G. Hopkins, `Informal Empire in Argentina: an alternative view', JLAS 26 (1994), 469-484

On other individual countries

R. Graham, `Sepoys and Imperialists: techniques of British power in nineteenth-century Brazil', Inter-Am. Econ. Affairs 23 (1969), 23-37

J. Mayo, `Britain and Chile, 1851-1886: anatomy of a relationship', JIASWA 23 (1981), 95-120

R. Miller, `Enterprise and Inertia: British business in Peru, 1850-1950' [in SJSL offprint collection, #14931]

M. Monteón, `The British in the Atacama Desert: the cultural bases of economic imperialism', Jnl. Econ. Hist. 35 (1975), 117-133

P. Winn, `British Informal Empire in Uruguay in the Nineteenth Century', PP 73 (1976), 100-126

On the British government

*D.C.M. Platt, Finance, Trade and Politics in British Foreign Policy, 1815-1914

On British business

*C. Abel & C.M. Lewis (eds.), Latin America, Economic Imperialism and the State, esp. chaps by Jones on the state, Lewis on railways, Albert on Peru, *Finch on utilities

B. Albert, South America and the First World War

R. Gravil, The Anglo-Argentine Connection, 1900-1939

*D.C.M. Platt (ed.), Business Imperialism, esp. chaps by Jones on banking, Greenhill on merchants, Mathew on Peruvian guano, Lewis on railways

E.W. Ridings, `Foreign Predominance among Overseas Traders in Nineteenth-Century Latin America', LARR 20:2 (1985), 3-28 [if you read this, look also at the critiques in LARR 21:3 (1986), 145-156]

A. Rosenthal, `The Arrival of the Electric Streetcar and the Conflict over Progress in early 20th century Montevideo', JLAS 27 (1995), 319-342