The Colonial Navy Docks and Shipyard in Cartagena de Indias, Its Workers and the Political Crisis of Independence

Abstract

This article studies the Colonial Navy Docks and Shipyard of Cartagena de Indias in the late xviiith and early xixth centuries and, in particular, the characteristics of the activities undertaken there. We show that the defensive systems demanded large concentrations of workers, and that these went beyond the small artisan workshop led by a master craftsman, with the participation of the family unit or of a small number of journeymen and apprentices. We suggest that a relationship exists between the crisis of the Empire, beginning in 1808, the budget crisis of the Shipyard and the political crisis in Cartagena, with the support given by workers to the movement for absolute independence from Spain.