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Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura
Print version ISSN 0120-2456
Abstract
MEJIA, SERGIO. Three Quarts of Selfishness: Landowners' Sabotage of the Public Slaughterhouse in Santafé (1798-1817). Anu. colomb. hist. soc. cult. [online]. 2015, vol.42, n.1, pp.51-81. ISSN 0120-2456. https://doi.org/10.15446/achsc.v42n1.51343.
This study examines a series of anomalies in the supply of meat to Santafé de Bogota between 1798 and 1817 caused by landowners' reluctance to comply with Viceroy Mendinueta's order to sell their products through a new butcher shop or slaughterhouse in the city center. Determined not to pay the corresponding transport costs, landowners used the town council (which they controlled) and eventually imposed their will on the viceroy, who compromised by offering a 50% increase in the price of meat in exchange for the establishment of the slaughterhouse. This case demonstrates the weakness of the colonial state in its twilight and highlights the selfishness of Santafé's potentates with respect to the public; two years later, these potentates would become distinguished republicans. This study utilizes papers from the Supplies, Militias and the Navy, Miscellanea from the Colony and Government sections of the General Archive of the Nation in Bogota.
Keywords : meat supply; New Kingdom of Granada; selfishness with respect to the public; Santafé de Bogota; late Hispano-American colonial societies.