Origins and development of the fish tinning industry in Andalousia (1879-1936)

Abstract

This article analizes the evolution of the Andalusian fish tinning industry since its beginning in 1789 to the Spanish civil war in 1936. Along these pages we study the internal and external factors that made its birth possible and its several phases and periods. Within these periods we analize the structural changes, the relations between the fishing sector and the tinning sector and the production levels itemized district by district. They are related to two basic factors: the potentialities and limitations of the fishing sector and the evolution of the main external markets, where most of the tinned fish was sold, given the small size of the Spanish domestic market. We have tried to underline the sizable importance of the Andalusian tinning industry within the Spanish context, the different models of tinning industry developement and, above all, the different problems faced by the two producing areas of Huelva and Cádiz.