Commercial Geography Part 25

The compet.i.tion of the beet-sugar made in Europe drove the Cubans into insurrection on account of the excessive taxes levied by the Spaniards, and ended in the Spanish-American War.

The fruit-crop--mainly pineapples, oranges, and grapefruit--is s.h.i.+pped to the United States. New York, Philadelphia, and the Gulf ports are the destination of the greater part of it.

Cuba, the largest island, is one of the most productive regions of the world. The famous "Havana" tobacco grows mainly in the western part, although practically all Cuban tobacco is cla.s.sed under this name.

According to popular opinion it is pre-eminently the best in flavor, and the price is not affected by that of other tobaccos.[58] About two-thirds of the raw leaf and cigars are purchased by the tobacco manufacturers of the United States. _Havana_, _Santiago_, and _Cienfuegos_ are the s.h.i.+pping-ports; most of the export is landed at New York, Key West, and Tampa.

From 1900 to 1903 the small fraction of the sugar industry that survived the war and the insurrection was crippled by the high tariff on sugar imported into the United States. The latter, which was designed to protect the home sugar industry, was so high that the Cubans could not afford to make sugar at the ruling prices in New York. Hides, honey, and Spanish cedar for cigar-boxes are also important exports.

The United States is the chief customer of Cuba, and in turn supplies the Cubans with flour, textile goods, hardware, and coal-oil. Smoked meat from Latin America and preserved fish from Canada and Newfoundland are the remaining imports. There are no manufactures of importance. The railways are mainly for the purpose of handling the sugar-crop.

_Havana_, the capital and financial centre, is connected with New York, New Orleans, and Key West by steams.h.i.+p lines. _Santiago_, _Matanzas_, and _Cienfuegos_ are ports having a considerable trade.

The British possessions in the West Indies are commercially the most important of the European possessions. The Bahamas are low-lying coral islands, producing but little except sponges, fruit, and sisal-hemp.

_Na.s.sau_, the only town of importance, is a winter resort. Fruit, sugar, rum, coffee, and ginger are exported from _Kingston_, the port of Jamaica. _St. Lucia_ has probably the strongest fortress in the Caribbean Sea.

Barbados produces more sugar than any other British possession in the West Indies. The raw sugar, muscovado, is s.h.i.+pped to the United States.

Bermuda, an outlying island, furnishes the Atlantic states with onions, Easter lilies, and early potatoes. From Trinidad is obtained the asphaltum, or natural tar, that is used for street paving. Brea Lake, the source of the mineral, is leased to a New York company. Sugar and cacao are also exported from Port of Spain. The products of St. Vincent and Dominica are similar to those of the other islands.

The French own Martinique (_Fort de France_) and Guadeloupe (_Ba.s.se Terre_). St. Thomas (_Charlotte Amalie_), St. Croix, and St. John are Danish possessions. Various attempts to transfer the Danish islands to the United States have failed. They are admirably adapted for naval stations. The island of Haiti consists of two negro republics, Haiti and San Domingo. The only important product is coffee. Most of the product is s.h.i.+pped to the United States, which supplies coal oil and textiles in return.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What part of the United States was formerly a possession of Mexico, and how did it become a possession of the United States?

From a cyclopedia learn the character of the political organization of Mexico and the Central American states.

From the report listed below find what commercial routes gain, and what ones lose in distance by the Nicaragua, as compared with the Panama ca.n.a.l.

From a good atlas make a list of the islands of the West Indies; name the country to which each belongs, and its exports to the United States.

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE

The Statesman's Year-Book.

Great Ca.n.a.ls of the World--pp. 4058-4059.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTH AMERICA]

CHAPTER XXIII

SOUTH AMERICA--THE ANDEAN STATES

In its general surface features South America resembles North America--that is, a central plain is bordered by low ranges on the east and by a high mountain system on the west. In the southern part, midsummer is in January and midwinter in July. The mineral-producing states are traversed by the ranges of the Andes and all of them except Chile are situated on both slopes of the mountains.

=Colombia.=--This republic borders both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. One port excepted, however, most of its commerce is confined to the sh.o.r.es of the Caribbean Sea. The lowlands east of the Andes are admirably adapted for grazing, and such cattle products as hides, horns, and tallow are articles of export. This region, however, even with the present facilities for transportation, produces only a small fraction of the products possible.

The intermontane valleys between the Andean ranges have the climate of the temperate zone; wheat and sheep are produced. The chief industrial development, however, is confined to the lands near the Caribbean coast.

Coffee, cacao, and tobacco are grown for export, the business of cultivation being largely controlled by Americans and Europeans. Rubber, copaiba, tolu, and vegetable ivory[59] are gathered by Indians from the forests.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Pa.s.s IN THE ANDES]

The montane region has long been famous for its mines of gold and silver. The salt mines near Bogota are a government monopoly and yield a considerable revenue. Near the same city are the famous Muzo emerald mines.

The rivers are the chief channels of internal trade. During the rainy season steamboats ascend the Orinoco to Cabugaro, about two hundred miles from Bogota. About fifty steamboats are in commission on the Magdalena and its tributary, the Cauca. Mule trains traversing wretched trails require from one to two weeks to transport the goods from the river landings to the chief centres of population. Improvements now under way in clearing and ca.n.a.lizing these rivers will add about five hundred miles of additional water-way. The railways consist of short lines mainly used as portages around obstructions of the rivers.

An unstable government and an onerous system of export taxes hamper trade. Coffee, a leading product, goes mainly to Europe. Cattle products, and balsam of tolu are purchased mainly in the United States.

Great Britain purchases the gold and silver ores. The chief imports--textiles, flour, and petroleum--are purchased in the United States. _Bogota_ and _Medellin_ are the largest cities. The isolation of the region in which they are situated shapes the indifferent foreign policy of the government. _Barranquilla_, _Sabanilla_, and _Cartagena_ are the chief ports.

=Panama.=--This state, formerly a part of Colombia, includes the isthmus of Panama. Geographically it belongs to North America, and practically it can be approached from Colombia by water only. The secession of Panama was brought about by the complications of the isthmian ca.n.a.l. A treaty with the United States gives the latter sovereign control over the ca.n.a.l and the strip of land ten miles wide bordering it. _Panama_ and _Colon_ are the two ports of the ca.n.a.l. The United States exercises police and sanitary regulations in these cities, but it has no sovereignty over them.

=Peru.=--Peru has great resources, both agricultural and mineral. Cotton is one of the chief products. The ordinary fibre is excelled only by the sea-island cotton of the United States; the long-staple fibre of the Piura is the best grown. The former is generally employed for mixing with wool in the manufacture of underwear, and is sold in the United States and Europe; the latter, used in the manufacture of thread and the web of pneumatic tires, goes mainly to Great Britain.

Cane-sugar is a very large export crop, Great Britain, the United States, and Chile being the princ.i.p.al customers. The area of coffee production is growing rapidly. Coca-growing has become an important industry, and the plantations aggregate about three million trees;[60] a large part of the product is sent to the chemical laboratories of the United States. A small crop of rice for export is grown on the coast.

The Amazon forest products yield a considerable revenue. Rubber and vegetable ivory are the most valuable. Cinchona, or Peruvian bark, however, is the one for which the state is best known; and there is probably not a drug-shop in the civilized world that does not carry it in stock.[61]

Cattle are grown for their hides, and of these the United States is the chief purchaser. The wool of the llama, alpaca, and vicuna is used in manufacture of the cloth known as alpaca, and the value of the s.h.i.+pments to Great Britain usually exceeds one million dollars a year. In the mining regions the llama is used as a pack-animal, and a large part of the mine products reach the markets by this means of transportation. The mines yield silver and copper; in the main the ores are exported to Great Britain to be smelted.

The products already named are the chief exports; the imports are cotton textiles, machinery, steel wares, and coal-oil. Great Britain has about one-half the foreign trade; the United States controls about one-fourth.

_Callao_, the port of _Lima_, is the market through which most of the foreign trade is carried on. Steams.h.i.+p lines connect it with San Francisco and with British ports. _Mollendo_ is the outlet of Bolivian trade. The railways are short lines extending from the coast.

=Ecuador.=--This state has but little commercial importance. The only cultivated products for export are cacao, coffee, and sugar. The first-named const.i.tutes three-fourths of the exports, and most of it goes to France. The land is held in large estates, and most of the laboring people are in a condition of practical slavery. The bread-stuffs consumed by the foreign population and the land proprietors are imported. Animals are grown for their hides and these are sold to the United States.

Another manufacture that connects Ecuador with the rest of the world is the so-called "Panama" hat. The material used is toquilla straw, the mid-rib of the screw-pine (_Carlodovica palmata_). The prepared straw can be plaited only when the atmosphere is very moist, and much of the work is done at night. The hats are made by Indians, who are governed by their own ideas regarding style and shape. They bring from twenty-five to fifty dollars apiece in the American markets, where nearly all the product is sold.[62]

Mule-paths are the only means of inland communication. There is a considerable local traffic on the estuaries of the rivers, but this is confined to the rainy seasons. A railway built by an American company is in operation from _Guayaquil_, a short distance inland. This city is the chief market for foreign goods, and it is the only foreign port of the Pacific coast of South America in which the volume of trade of the United States approximates that of Germany and Great Britain.

=Bolivia.=--Bolivia lost much of its possible commercial possible future when, after a disastrous war, its Pacific coast frontage became a possession of Chile. The agricultural lands are unfortunately situated with reference to the mining population; as a result, a considerable amount of food-stuffs must be imported from Argentina. Coffee, cacao, and coca are the princ.i.p.al cultivated products. Rubber from the Amazon forest is the most valuable vegetable product, but a considerable amount of cinchona bark and ivory nuts are also exported.

The mines, however, are the chief wealth of the state and give it the only excuse for its political existence. They produce silver, tin, copper, gold, and borate of lime. Inasmuch as a large part of the ore and ore products must be transported by llamas and mules, only the richest mines can be profitably worked. With adequate means of transportation, the mines should make Bolivia one of the most powerful South American states.

Railways already connect _Oruro_ with the sea-coast. A railway now under construction will connect _La Paz_ (the pa.s.s) with the Pacific coast, and also Buenos Aires. Excellent roads to take the place of the pack-trains are under construction.

Practically all the imports, consisting of cotton and woollen textiles, machinery, and steel wares, are purchased in Great Britain. The exports are more than double the imports. Most of the goods pa.s.s through the Chilean port Antof.a.gasto, or Mollendo, Peru. _La Paz_, _Oruro_, and _Sucre_ are the chief cities.

The hypothetical state of Acre is situated in the angle where Bolivia, Peru, and Brazil join. The rubber forests, together with the absence of legal government, led to its existence. The government is wholly insurrectionary, but it at least uses its powers to encourage the rubber trade.

=Chile.=--This state comprises the narrow western slope of the Andes, extending from the tropic of Capricorn to Cape Horn, a distance of about three thousand miles. The resources of the state have been so skilfully handled, that with the drawback of a very small proportion of cultivable land, Chile is the foremost Andean state.

The cultivation of the ordinary crops is confined to the flood-plains of the short rivers. These, as a rule, are from twenty to fifty miles long and a mile or two in width. They are densely peopled and cultivated to the limit. Between the river-valleys are long stretches of unproductive land.

Within the valleys wheat, barley, fruit, and various food-stuffs are grown. Of these there are not only enough for home consumption, but considerable quant.i.ties are exported to Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Much of the cultivable land requires to be watered, and the system of irrigation has been developed with extraordinary skill. The grazing lands are extensive. In the northern part an excellent quality of merino wool is produced; the greater part of the clip, however, is an ordinary fibre. The cattle furnish a considerable amount of leather for export.