Imperial connections, investment patterns, and business longevity: The Ugartes, a dynasty of Basque merchants in the Northern Andes, 1750-1840

The article explores the business history of a dynasty of Basque merchants that operated in Bogotá over three generations during the Age of Revolutions. Following extensive archival research, the paper studies two main areas of business activity: networking and investment patterns. The evidence suggests that the ascendance of the founder of the family rested upon a thick, empire-wide network forged by his dealings with the viceregal court in Bogotá. Businessmen with diversified portfolios and broad geographical scope emerged a century before the late nineteenth-century export-led era in the region. The second generation shifted investments toward supplying local markets and developing rural estates. The imperial-wide network collapsed during the Independence, with the members of the second and third generations failing to adapt to a new world in which connections with Jamaica became the mainstream gateways to the world economy. The Independence Wars marked a radical change in the members of the high ranks of the region’s mercantile elite.