Threads of metal. The Iron and Steel Wire-Drawing Industry in Spain (1856-1935)

Abstract

Iron and steel wire manufactures provided a wide and heterogeneous range of products for agriculture, mining, and several industries (paper, flour products, mechanical constructions) during the process of Spanish industrialization. This article contains new data about the growth of this auxiliary sector for a chronological period of the metal industries for which historiography has provided very few published studies. Particularly outstanding are data about Spanish iron and steel wire manufacturing workshops and factories between 1856-1935, and about imports and exports in this period. Technological change, geographical location, entrepreneurial structure of the sector, collusive agreements and institutional environment are relevant aspects the analysis deals with.