Consumo y comercio de carnes en el corregimiento de Santiago, 1773-1778

Abstract

This work reconstructs the consumption of meat in the district of Santiago (Corregimiento) from 1773 to 1778. Through tax sources, information is compiled on this consumer market to analyze the origin of its supply, its commercial circuits and its impact on the well-being of the population. The results show that the consumption of meat per capita of those from Santiago reached 78.4 kilos a year, equivalent to 35% of the daily caloric requirement for an adult, a level that was far higher than many South American and European cities of the period. This high consumption of meat would have been universal, given that acquiring that quantity was only 6.8% of an unqualified urban workers salary. This evidence suggests that this population had a quality of life that was far superior than the level some economic historiography holds for Spanish-American as a whole