Abstract

POLO ACUNA, José Trinidad. The French in the válley of the Sinú River (Colombia). The case of the Lacharme family in Montería: their economic activities 1850-1950. memorias [online]. 2018, n.36, pp.31-56. ISSN 1794-8886.  https://doi.org/10.14482/memor.36.306.98.

From the middle of the 19th century, the Lacharme Dumont family, of French origin, arrived in the valley of the Sinú River, which developed economic activities related to logging, livestock, agriculture, dairy production, land purchase and sale, banking and services for three generations. public. The presence of this family was not an isolated case in the Sinú, on the contrary it would inaugurate the arrival of other French families who settled in the region contributing with the economic dynamism of a hitherto border town: Montería. It was not a massive, planned or systematic immigration caused by wars, famines or economic crises, but was associated with the establishment of enterprises, companies and commercial companies interested in promoting livestock, agricultural, extractive (forestry) and commercial activities. The case of the Lacharme allows to expand the historical analysis of individuals and families of entrepreneurs and businessmen in provincial, rural or border areas of the Caribbean of Colombia, showing the rationality with which they developed their activities and the capacity they had to identify investment opportunities in a context still marked by the narrowness of markets, limited capital, precariousness in means of communication, transport and techniques. The sour-ces that support the investigation come mostly from the Historical Archive of Cordoba (AHCOR), in the city of Monteria, particularly the documentary fund of the First Notary, which has been uninterrupted since 1908, although some references of its documents refer to previous periods. This documentary collec-tion contains public deeds related to the purchase and sale of land, livestock, agricultural, forestry and timber production, mortgages, the formation of trading companies, among others, which allowed us to reconstruct the organi-zation of the Lacharme businesses.

Keywords : Businessmen; business; Sinú; Lacharme; Monteria.

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