By James M. Vreeland, Jr.
Originally published in Revista Punto & Plano, Issue 46, May 2025, pp. 22–26
Translation authorized by the author.

Cultivated extensively in the warm coastal valley of Piura since 1922, Pima cotton ignited a true revolution in the global textile industry. Called by many “Peru’s white gold” for its extra-long, soft, and strong fiber, it quickly gained acceptance in international markets. But cotton is much older in Peru.

Recent archaeological studies from the northern coast have documented cotton remnants in sites dating back 6,000 years. And it wasn’t long-staple white fiber like Pima, it was shorter and beige, naturally colored and undyed. At the start of the colonial era, this “native cotton” was exported from northern ports and called “rough” or “full rough” by the British for its coarse, resilient texture and varied natural hues.

 

 

The Beginnings of Peru’s Textile Industry

During the Republic, cotton was no longer a colonial curiosity, it returned to the economic spotlight. After independence, Peru sought to reboost cotton alongside sugar and other products. Under President Ramón Castilla’s first constitutional term (1845–1851), the first cotton textile mill in Peru was founded in Lima in 1848: “Los Tres Amigos”, a spinning and weaving factory.

Equipped with modern U.S. machinery, the factory operated in a former colonial mansion of Viceroy Manuel de Amat y Juniet, once home to the famous La Perricholi, Micaela Villegas. A decree dated September 5, 1848, granted the company: “Exclusive rights to manufacture cotton textiles in the entire Republic,” and exempted it from patent taxes.

In 1849, José Sarratea and José Navarrete established a silk fabric factory in Lima, using English machinery.

Also in 1849, Juan Norberto Casanova, director of Los Tres Amigos, published an “Economic-Political Essay on the Future of the Cotton Textile Industry in Peru.” In it, he argued for industrialization, urging the government to support local industry, while remaining liberal, by redirecting guano profits into domestic manufacturing. But the political climate remained unstable, and Peru lacked serious industrial policy.

The Cotton Boom of the 1860s: Civil War as Opportunity

Suddenly everything changed due to the American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865), a brutal conflict between the Union (North) and the Confederates (South), a little-known history in Peru.

European industrial powers, especially Great Britain, lost access to 80% of their cotton supply from the American South, causing global prices to skyrocket. Within months, hundreds of European spinning mills were starved for raw fiber and looked elsewhere for alternatives.

Between 1861 and 1865, the collapse of U.S. cotton output caused a surge in prices and urgent demand. Peru’s northern coastal valleys, Piura and Chira, were ideal replacements: irrigated fertile soils, Texas-like climate, and abundant native seed stock.

With Confederate ports blockaded by Union forces, the shutdown of cotton exports triggered the worst industrial crisis in Europe’s textile sector. Historian Sven Beckert notes that cotton was one of the largest industries in the world in the mid-19th century, employing over 20 million workers, most harvesting cotton by hand, many as slaves on Southern U.S. plantations.

 

 

Foreign Investment Floods into Piura and Chira

Enter foreign capital. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company had already opened routes from Paita to Europe. British investors like Alejandro Blacker, Henry Hilton Leigh, and Jorge Woodhouse seized the “cotton fever,” buying estates and planting fiber.

Knowing that Britain was the top buyer, they imported steam-powered irrigation pumps, rapidly scaling up operations. The numbers speak for themselves: in 1862, 3,300 quintals of cotton were exported from Paita to Liverpool; by 1864, that figure hit 41,000 quintals.

The northern valleys of Piura and Lambayeque became a national “economic thermometer,” enriching local oligarchs and returning hefty profits to British investors.

According to Peruvian researcher Rodolfo Castro Lizarbe, some Confederate Southerners emigrated to Brazil after the war, where slavery still existed, but others came to Peru, particularly to Piura. Among them were relatives of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, one of whom allegedly visited the Palace of Government during Agrarian Reform to ask General Juan Velasco Alvarado for land. Velasco, also from Piura, rejected the request.

 

Peru’s Advantage: Native Cotton Resilience

The volume, color range, and commercial momentum of Piura’s native cotton surpassed that of other regions. Peru had multiple ginneries, and dark-colored native cotton bales were in high demand in Britain.

British factories, since colonial times, had mixed Peruvian colored cotton with wool or alpaca to produce lighter, cooler, and cheaper textiles, ideal for hot climates in British colonies in Asia and the Americas.

In 1845, a law project was proposed to promote factories in Lima, offering rewards for industrial pioneers and tax privileges for immigrant specialists.

Peruvian congressmen emphasized that the country needed modern mills like those in England and the U.S., strategically placed near consumption centers on the coast.

In a defensive move against American cotton dependence, the British Crown distributed “Upland” cotton seeds from the U.S. South across tropical colonies in Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. These new American varieties replaced native ones almost everywhere, except Peru.

Why? Because Peru’s native cotton was superior: better color, strength, fiber length, and yield. Fortunately, it was not replaced by the inferior “Upland” type.

 

The Rediscovery of Native Cotton

By the early 1800s, Piura was exporting bales of cotton to major ports like Britain, France, Germany, and the U.S.. Historian Fernando de Trazegnies notes that in 1843, cotton from northern Peru shipped aboard the Rímac to China was considered: “Better than India’s.”

In the 1870s, a Dr. Montjoy, a U.S. citizen and informal consul in Lambayeque, sent reports and native cotton seeds to U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward. However, Washington ignored them, possibly because Montjoy was from Confederate Arkansas.

Despite this, Montjoy was captivated by the quality and productivity of Lambayeque cotton. Meanwhile, renowned British botanist Richard Spruce lived in Piura from 1862 to 1864, closely observing native cotton varieties.

 

British Reports and the Legacy Today

In 1861, a U.S. citizen named Alfred Duvall submitted a report to the Manchester Cotton Supply Association, recommending northern Peru as a prime growing zone.

By 1862, Gerald Garland planted seven cotton varieties on his estate in Chira, four Upland types, one from Ecuador, one Sea Island, and one local “criollo.”

The “criollo” variety outperformed them all in fiber content and yield. One plant grew over 8 meters tall, producing over 20 kg of raw cotton in a year.

Despite this momentum, the boom was overshadowed by the guano export boom and free-trade policies. As with many times in history, cheap imports and commodity exports stalled local industrial development, a dynamic still familiar in 21st-century Peru.