Radiografía de un fracaso angloespañol: El cañamo, un producto que debería haber llegado de américa durante los siglos XVI-XIX

Abstract

Kenneth Pomeranz, in his work on the economic divergence between East and West from the industrial revolution used the concept of the ghost acreages, referring thus to the best possibilities of growth that Britain had. It had the large arable surfaces and alternative supplies offered by their colonial domains. Following this line of argument, in this contribution, we intend to analyze the Spanish and English sources to see if the Governments of both empires were aware of these alternative possibilities, which, according to the scientific literature they offered the American territories they dominated. We will focus on the specific case of the hemp that, in modern times had become a strategic commodity of the first order, to the point of had been for it earlier exportation to the New World with the hope that it would solve the geostrategic and commercial ambitions of Spain and England.