ABSTRACT
The formation of the Republic brought with it the disappearance of the Sierra-based textile industry and the definitive replacement of domestic textiles with competing products entering the country under the protection of free-trade policies. Agriculture remained the only viable economic activity and the principal source of wealth in the new Republic. During the early Republican period, agricultural products were the principal items of domestic trade. On the coastal haciendas, all goods needed by the peasant—even manufactured items—were sold out of stores installed and managed by the hacienda owner himself. Given the great importance of agricultural activity during the Republican Period, the political influence of the landowners was understandable, especially when the highly concentrated nature of their economic dominance over that sector is taken into account. The hacienda was at the center of political power and the hacendados became the central focus of political authority exercised either directly or through intermediaries.
