In the late nineteenth century, Mexicans quickly adopted new technologies imported from abroad to sew cloth, manufacture glass bottles, refine minerals, and provide many other goods and services across the economy. New technologies underlay rapid economic growth as well as cultural change and social dislocation. This book traces general trends across the Mexican economy and offers new case studies of the canonical technologies of the first industrial revolution (railroads, steam engines, and iron) and of the late nineteenth century (sewing machines, automated glass bottle manufacturing, and cy ... More

In the late nineteenth century, Mexicans quickly adopted new technologies imported from abroad to sew cloth, manufacture glass bottles, refine minerals, and provide many other goods and services across the economy. New technologies underlay rapid economic growth as well as cultural change and social dislocation. This book traces general trends across the Mexican economy and offers new case studies of the canonical technologies of the first industrial revolution (railroads, steam engines, and iron) and of the late nineteenth century (sewing machines, automated glass bottle manufacturing, and cyanide process in gold and silver refining). The central paradox of this experience is the contrast between rapid technological change and a persistent dependence on know-how and hardware imported from the countries of the North Atlantic. Dependence arose in the gap between adopting new technologies and assimilating new knowledge and expertise. Adoption proved relatively easy in most (but not all) cases, and new machines and products were quickly integrated into the lives of many Mexicans. Yet assimilating the knowledge and expertise embedded within technology imports proved more difficult.