English occupation of the Pailon, Ecuador, 1860-1896 : a case study of British settlement failure in nineteenth-century Latin America
The thesis analyses the British attempt to settle and develop the Pailon region of Esmeraldas province, Ecuador, between 1860 and 1896. Set against the background of Ecuador's nineteenth-century struggle to achieve political stability and economic development in the forging of an independent nation-state, the study accounts for the Ecuadorian government's agreement in the treaties of 1854 and 1857 to cede territory for European colonisation to British bondholders in order to cancel unpaid back interest on Ecuador's portion of Gran Colombia's 'Independence' debt. Through the extensive use of settlers' first-hand accounts and of the primary documents contained in the British Foreign Office archives, a framework established from the personal experiences of the leading protagonists of four successive groups of British Pailon settlers enables the thesis to argue that the attempts to colonise and develop the Pailon not only failed through conflictive issues over sovereignty and development related to Britain's position as the world's hegemonic imperial, commercial and financial power, but also as a result of local conditions and disputes that can be broadly categorised as cultural conflicts between settlers and
Fisher, Alan Geoffrey
Colonisation; Esmeraldas; Ivory nut trade
English occupation of the Pailon, Ecuador, 1860-1896 : a case study of British settlement failure in nineteenth-century Latin America. The thesis analyses the British attempt to settle and develop the Pailon region of Esmeraldas province, Ecuador, between 1860 and 1896. Set against the background of Ecuador's nineteenth-century struggle to achieve political stability and economic development in the forging of an independent nation-state, the study accounts for the Ecuadorian government's agreement in the treaties of 1854 and 1857 to cede territory for European colonisation to British bondholders in order to cancel unpaid back interest on Ecuador's portion of Gran Colombia's 'Independence' debt. Through the extensive use of settlers' first-hand accounts and of the primary documents contained in the British Foreign Office archives, a framework established from the personal experiences of the leading protagonists of four successive groups of British Pailon settlers enables the thesis to argue that the attempts to colonise and develop the Pailon not only failed through conflictive issues over sovereignty and development related to Britain's position as the world's hegemonic imperial, commercial and financial power, but also as a result of local conditions and disputes that can be broadly categorised as cultural conflicts between settlers and
english occupation case_study british settlement failure nineteenth_century latin_america analyse british attempt settle develop region province set_background nineteenth_century struggle achieve political stability economic_development forge independent nation_state study account government agreement treaty territory european colonisation british order unpaid back interest portion colombia debt extensive_use settler first_hand account primary document contain british foreign_office archive framework_establish personal_experience lead protagonist successive group british settler enable argue attempt colonise develop fail issue sovereignty development relate britain position world hegemonic imperial commercial financial power also local_condition dispute broadly categorise cultural conflict settler