Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

, the wheat cycle () refers to two episodes of booming wheat exports and related changes in society and agriculture. The first cycle occurred from 1687 to the independence wars and was caused by heavy demand in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. The importance of wheat had led the 18th century in Chile to be labelled the wheat century (Spanish: ). The second cycle started in the mid-19th century, fueled by the

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Australian gold rushes During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in History of Australia, Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the Colo ...

and ended definitively during the

Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in Panic of 1873, 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1899, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been e ...

in the 1870s.

First cycle

Chile has a history of exporting cereals to

dating back to 1687 when Peru was struck by both an earthquake and a stem rust epidemic. Villalobos, Sergio; Silva, Osvaldo; Silva, Fernando and Estelle, Patricio. 1974. ''Historia De Chile''. Editorial Universitaria, Chile. p 155–160. Chilean soil and climatic conditions were better for cereal production than those of Peru and Chilean wheat was cheaper and of better quality than Peruvian wheat.Collier, Simon and Sater William F. 2004. ''A History of Chile: 1808-2002''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. p. 10. According to historians Villalobos et al., the 1687 events were only the detonant factor for exports to start. The Chilean Central Valley, La Serena and Concepción were the districts that came to be involved in cereal export to Peru. Compared with the 19th century, the area cultivated with wheat was very small and production modest. Initially Chilean '' latifundia'' could not meet the wheat demand due to a labour shortage, so had to incorporate temporary workers in addition to the permanent staff. Another response by the latifundia to labour shortages was to act as merchants, buying wheat produced by independent farmers or from farmers that hired land. In the period 1700 to 1850, this second option was overall more lucrative. The independence wars in Chile (1810–1818) and Peru (1809–1824) had a negative impact on the Chilean wheat industry. Trade was disrupted and armies in Chile pillaged the countryside. The Guerra a muerte phase was particularly destructive and ended only to see a period of outlaw banditry (e.g. Pincheira brothers) occur until the late 1820s. Trade with Peru did not fully recover after the independence struggles. Villalobos, Sergio; Silva, Osvaldo; Silva, Fernando and Estelle, Patricio. 1974. ''Historia De Chile''. Editorial Universitaria, Chile. p 406-413.

Second cycle

In the 19th century, access to the

n and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n markets made wheat export a very lucrative activity.
La Hacienda (1830-1930)
'. Memoria Chilena. In the mid-19th century, those countries experienced large

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

es, which created a large demand for wheat. Chile was at the time the only significant source of wheat on the Pacific rim. At the same time as the wheat cycle, new irrigation canals were built and

apiculture Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus ''Apis (bee), Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless be ...

and some machines introduced into Chilean agriculture.Economía chilena durante el siglo XIX
Cristián Sepúlveda Irribarra. Apart from that, new markets were explored for Chilean agricultural products. The wheat boom did not last for long; by 1855, California managed to supply itself with wheat and from 1858 onwards it went over to export wheat to Chile. The Australian gold rush of 1851 had the effect of decreasing the labour used in agriculture, forcing the colony to import wheat from Chile sustaining Chilean wheat exports whilst the Californian market vanished. After the gold rushes of California and Australia were over, those regions began exporting wheat competing with Chilean wheat, causing from the mid-1860s onwards wheat exports to be shifted to England. The "cycle" came to an end in the late 1870s due to the increased technification of

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

in the United States and Argentina and the competition of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. ''Historia contemporánea de Chile III. La economía: mercados empresarios y trabajadores.'' 2002. LOM Ediciones. Gabriel Salazar and Julio Pinto. p. 25–29. The end of the wheat cycle added to the already difficult situation that Chilean economy was passing through in the 1870s. Exports to England continued at least until 1890. Gabriel Salazar. 2000. ''Labradores, Peones y Proletarios''. p. 105

References

{{reflist History of agriculture in Chile Wheat Commodity booms