From silver to cocaine : Latin American commodity chains and the building of the world economy, 1500-2000 / edited by Steven Topik, Carlos Marichal, and Zephyr Frank

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : Commodity chains in theory and in Latin American history -- 1. The Spanish-American silver peso : export commodity and global money of the ancien regime, 1550-1800 -- 2. Indigo commodity chains in the Spanish and British empires, 1560-1860 -- 3. Mexican Cochineal and the European demand for American dyes, 1550-1850 -- 4. Colonial tobacco : key commodity of the Spanish empire, 1500-1800 -- 5. The Latin American coffee commodity chain : Brazil and Costa Rica -- 6. Trade regimes and the international sugar market, 1850-1980 : protectionism, subsidies, and regulation -- 7. The local and the global : internal and external factors in the development of Bahia's cacao sector -- 8. Banana boats and the baby food : the banana in U.S. history -- 9. The fertilizer commodity chains : Guano and nitrate, 1840-1930 -- 10. Brazil in the international rubber trade, 1870-1930 -- 11. Reports of its demise are not exaggerated : the life and times of Yucatecan Henequen -- 12. Cocaine in chains : the rise and demise of a global community commodity, 1860-1950 -- Conclusion : Commodity chains and globalization in historical perspective

Examining the commodity chains that have connected producers in Latin America with consumers around the world for 500 years, this work follows a specific commodity from its inception, through its development and transport, to its final destination in the hands of consumers.