The history of a chimera. Cotton textile industry in Old Castile, 1846-1913

Abstract

In 1860 Valladolid was the main cotton textile district in central Spain. Four decades latter, all its factories had closed down. This papers analyses the reasons of this failure. Since Castillian products could no compete with Catalonian ones due to the cost of steam energy, Valladolid and Santander manufacturers had to shelter in the market of coarse textiles, whose size was smaller and decreasing. The cotton companies, formed by family firms wich had flour milling as their main business, Barcelona textile merchants and Santander shipowners, suffered from frequent divisions and disagreements which weaekened them in the face of of their rivals.