Abstract
This dissertation argues that the borderland region from the Nueces River to the Sierra Madres has been a crossroads of trade since the era of Spanish colonization, and that after Mexico won its independence from Spain, the region became the focus of intense commercial modernization projects initiated by both state agents and individual businessmen from all over Western Europe. These entrepreneurs wanted to transform the Rio Grande and its surroundings from a regional crossroads to a hub of the Atlantic economy. However, their efforts to create rapid change were often stymied by mismanagement, notions of ethnic and cultural superiority, and eruptions of violent conflict. I argue that elucidating the many failed attempts of European-born entrepreneurs to reform the Rio Grande borderlands into the commercial utopia they imagined ultimately shows the contingency of American westward expansion in the 19th century. Their persistent presence, relationships with European governments, and open competition with American projects reveal that European-born entrepreneurs actively pushed against American expansion into the borderlands.
Degree Date
Spring 5-16-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
History
Advisor
Dr. Neil Foley
Second Advisor
Dr. Alicia Dewey
Third Advisor
Dr. Erin Hochman
Fourth Advisor
Dr. Ariel Ron
Subject Area
History
Number of Pages
227
Format
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Carpenter, Kyle B., "Globalizing the Rio Grande: European-born Entrepreneurs, Settlement, and Mercantile Networks in the Rio Grande Borderlands, 1749-1881" (2020). History Theses and Dissertations. 10.
https://scholar.smu.edu/hum_sci_history_etds/10
Included in
European History Commons, Genealogy Commons, Latin American History Commons, Other History Commons, Political History Commons, United States History Commons
