On the routes not chosen: Commercial capital and coffee production in the Central Valley of Costa Rica

Authors

  • Lowell Gudmundson

Keywords:

Commercial Capital, Coffee, Agricultural Production, Peasantry, Landowner, Twentieth Century, Costa Rica

Abstract

The major comparative purpose of this brief analysis, then, will not be to continue with that "praise of peasant-based capitalism. Rather, in Costa Rica, long considered a virtual "limit case" of responsiveness and success by smallholders in coffee production worldwide, we will focus on a virtually "lower limit" case, an area of radically inferior soil fertility, older population and greater inequality of access to land of all kinds or quality. In Desamparados-Tarrazú, south of the capital city of San José, small farmers also survived and eventually made common cause with their wealthier brothers in other coffee-growing areas to build a thriving cooperative movement after the 1948 Revolution that so favored them. However, in comparison with other neighboring districts, the route that would lead them to such triumph meant defeating both a more dominant landowner and beneficiary group and a more impoverished and polarized social structure.

Downloads

Published

2002-07-01

How to Cite

Gudmundson, Lowell. 2002. “On the Routes Not Chosen: Commercial Capital and Coffee Production in the Central Valley of Costa Rica”. Revista De Historia, no. 46 (July): 149-84. https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/historia/article/view/10225.

Issue

Section

Costa Rica (peer reviewed section)

How to Cite

Gudmundson, Lowell. 2002. “On the Routes Not Chosen: Commercial Capital and Coffee Production in the Central Valley of Costa Rica”. Revista De Historia, no. 46 (July): 149-84. https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/historia/article/view/10225.

Comentarios (ver términos de uso)

Similar Articles

1-10 of 365

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >>