CHAPTER XIV
INDUSTRY AND INTERNAL COMMERCE
Internal industrial development was practically non-existent in Mexico before the Spanish conquest and remained negligible throughout the colonial period. Indian industry for the supply of local wants continued throughout the country districts. The civilization was static both socially and geographically. In the towns, it is true, some articles of European manufacture were introduced but they were only those that could bear high carrying costs. They did not displace native manufactures because they reached only those of European blood, nor did their high price, as a rule, give rise to local manufacture.
The typical Mexican manufactured products that found their way into European trade, if the simple process by which they were produced can be dignified by the name of manufacture, were the precious metals, cochineal, indigo, and sugar. Because of the exclusion of foreigners, the commercial and industrial development, so far as it was not in the hands of the native races, was monopolized by Spaniards.
One of the first industries established—a reflection of the development the Spaniards emphasized in the country—was the coining of silver, which was begun at the Mexico mint, established in 1537. Toward the end of the colonial period a beginning of textile manufacture
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