1 Historical conflict research is far from agreeing on the definition of the relevant research topic. Manfred Gailus' definition as smallest common denominator may be mentioned here: “Confrontation or conflict means divergence and collision of claims, interests, expectations between at least two (or among several) groups, between a group and an individual, or between a group and an institution. Fields of conflict, which are present permanently and every day, result from those constellations.’ Gailus, Manfred, Straβe und Brot: Sozialer Protest in den deutschen Staaten unter besonderer Berūcksichtigung Preuβens, 1847–1849 (Gōttingen 1990) 35.Google Scholar

To delimitate different conceptions within historical conflict research such as ‘collective violence’ or ‘social violence’ see ibid., 29–42.

2 On the political artisan class of the late 40s and early 50s of the 19th century: Martínez, Gustavo Vargas, Colombia 1854: Melo, las artesanos y el socialismo (la dicladura artesanal de 1854. Expresión del socialismo utópico en Colombia) (Bogotá 1973)Google Scholar; Uribe, Jaime Jaramill, ‘Las Sociedades Democráticas de Artesanos y la coyuntura política y social colombiana de 1848’ in: La personalidad histórica colombiana y otros ensayos (Bogotá 1977) 203–222.Google Scholar See also Rodríguez, Carmen Escobar, La revolutión liberal y la prolesla del artesanado (Bogotá 1990)Google Scholar and König, Hans-Joachim, Auf dem Wege zur Nation: Nationalismus im Prozeβ der Staatsund Nationsbildung Neu-Cranadas 1750 bis 1856 (Stuttgart 1988).Google Scholar With regards to the craftsmen rebellion of 1879 in Bucaramanga consult: Plata, Horacio Rodríguez, La inmigración alemana al Estado soberano de Santander en el Siglo XIX (Bogotá 1968) 63–82Google Scholar; Díiaz, Mario Acevedo, La Culebra Pico de Oro (Historia de un conjlicto social) (Bogotá 1978)Google Scholar; Blanco, Manuel Serrano, El libro azul de La Raza (Bucaramanga 1941) 103–118.Google Scholar Many references concerning the craftsmen riot at Bogotá since the 1840s are to be found at Sowell's, David, The Early Colombian Labor Movement. Artisans and Politics in Bogotá, 1832–1919 (Philadelphia 1992).Google Scholar On violence 1893 at Bogotá see Sowell, David, ‘The 1893 Bogotnzo: Artisans and Public Violence in Late Nineteenth-Century Bogotá’, Journal of Latin America Studies 21/2(1989) 267–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Ocampo, José Antonio, ‘Comerciantes, artesanos y política económica en Colombia 1830–1880’, BCB 27/22 (1990) 38.Google Scholar König gives substantially lower numbers for women. König, Hans-Joachim, ‘Ecuador, Kolumbien, Venezuela’ in: Bernecker, Walther L. et al. eds, Handbuch der Geschichte Lateinamerikas (Stuttgart 1992) 600.Google Scholar

4 The conclusiveness of the few existing Colombian population statistics is low. Hints as to the vocational structure of 1870 can be taken from: Gómez, Fernando, ‘Los Censos en Colombia antes de 1905’ in: Urrutia, Miguel and Arrubla, M. Mario eds, Compendio de esladisticas históriras de Colombia (Bogotá 1970) 30.Google Scholar

5 On the importance of this trade for Colombian exports see Ocampo, José Antonio, Colombia y la economía mundial 1830–1910 (Bogotá 1984) 389–395.Google Scholar

6 On the definition of the artisanos by Sowell, The Early Colombian Labor Movement, 8–15. On the suffrage and eligibility in the Federal Colombian Union see ibid., 161. Only the constitution of Cundinamarca incorporated unlimited suffrage for the male population between 1853 and 1861.

7 Saffray, Charles, Viaje a Nueva Granada (Bogotá 1948) 297.Google Scholar

8 Röthlisberger, Ernst, El Dorado: Reise- und Kulturbilder aus dem südamerikanischen Columbien (Bern 1898) 96.Google Scholar

9 Vocational schools based on self-redress and propagated by radicals, such as the Colegio de Artisanos in Bogotá founded in 1865, the Instituto de Artes i Oficios in Bogotá, and the Instituto de Artisanos, a competing institute founded by the Regeneration Government in Bogotá in 1886 are, nevertheless, worth mentioning. Sowell, The Early Colombian Labor Movement, 84, 103 and 121–123.

10 Sowell, The Early Colombian Labor Movement, 40–52; Ibid.‘“La teoría y la realidad”: The Democratic Society of Artisans of Bogotá 1847–1854’, Hispanic American Historical Review 67/4 (November 1987) 611–630; Vargas Martílnez, Colombia 1854; Jaramillo Uribe, Las Sociedades Democráticas.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 David Bushnell attested the artisans political consciousness. Although they did not found their own political parties, they formed a decisive factor in the campaigns of the Liberals and the Conservatives depending on the corresponding state of interest. Bushnell, David, ‘Política y Partidos en el Siglo XIX: Algunos Antecedentes Históricos’ in: ñaranda, Gonzalo Sñ eds, Pasado y presente de la violencia en Colombia (Bogotá 1986) 35.Google Scholar

12 The events are described in Kōnig's Auf dem Wege zur Nation, 294–298.

13 See ibid.‘“Entwicklung nach außen”: Voraussetzungen, Maßnahmen und Ereignisse des Entwicklungskonzepts der Liberalen in Kolumbien in der 2. Hālfte des 19. Jahrhunderts’ in: Buisson, Inge and Mols, Manfred eds, Entwicklungsstrategien in Lateinamerika in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (Paderborn 1983) 67–82Google Scholar; José Antonio Ocampo, Colombia y la economia mundiak Fischer, Thomas, Die verlorenen Dekaden: Entivicklung nach auβen und ausländische Geschäfte in Kolumbien 1870–1914 (München 1996).Google Scholar

14 On classification of the interaction between social groups in competing, reactive, and proactive actions in pre-modern and modern Western Europe see Tilly, Charles, ‘Hauptformen kollektiver Aktion in Westeuropa 1500–1975’, Geschichte und Geselschaft 3 (1977) Ch. 2, 153–163.Google Scholar

15 The best studies on this transition are Delpar, Helen, Red against Blue: The Liberal Party in Colombian Politics, 1863–1899 (Alabama 1981) 110–132Google Scholar; Park, James William, Rafael Núñez and the Politics of Colombian Regionalism, 1863–1886 (Baton Rouge and London 1985) 75–264Google Scholar; and Jorge Orlando Melo, ‘Del federalismo a la Constitutión de 1886’, Nueva hisloria de Colombia (NHC) 1, 17–42.

16 Melo, Del federalismo, 27.

17 With 15,000 inhabitants the largest city in the north-west of the State of Santander which, being the seat of the provincial administration and a trading centre, was of political as well as economic importance.

18 Roughly translated: The poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer.

19 Rodríguez Plata, La inmigración, 59. See also David Church Johnson, Santander, 280–282.

20 On García see García, José Joaquín, Crónicas de Bucaramanga (Bucaramanga 1944).Google Scholar

21 Acevedo Díaz, La Culebra.

22 On the individual reforms see Johnson, Santander, 47–66.

23 Johnson bases his ideas on the fact that in the north the chances related to the export production were utilised in contrast to the south where the development model, which was based on the ‘democratic’ distribution of land and a strong artisan class and its production which was traditionally aimed at the local domestic market, obviously stagnated. In Johnson's opinion it was the radical-liberal development conception which caused the decline of small and mid-sized farms as well as craftsmen. The latter were unable to compete with the mass products offered on the world market. Johnson, Santander, 165.

24 Preussisches Handelsarchiv 1879, erste Hāfte, Columbien. Handelsbericht aus Bucaramanga für das Finanzjahr 1877/1878, 10.

25 Arenas, Emilio, La casa del Diablo. Los puyana: Tenencia de tierras y acumulación de capital en Santander (Bucaramanga 1982) 110.Google Scholar

26 Handelsbericht aus Bucaramanga für das Finanzjahr 1877/1878, 12.

27 Report by Mr Bunch, Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires on the Industrial Resources of the State of Santander, Parliamentary Papers (Accounts and Papers) (PP) LXVII, 1871, 3.Google Scholar

28 Villamizar, Edmundo Gavassa II, Club del Comercio Bucaramanga 1872–1986 (Bucaramanga 1986).Google Scholar

29 On Wilches see Muñoz, Gustavo Otero, Wilches y su época (Bucaramanga 1936).Google Scholar

30 On the economic situation in Bucaramanga in 1877/1878 see Handelsbericht aus Bucaramanga für das Finanzjahr 1877/1878, 9. The following comments are based on this excellent source.

31 The following comments on the riots in Bucaramanga are mainly based on the article ‘Sucesos de Bucaramanga’ which was printed in the Revista de Solo on 18 September 1879. This newspaper was very closely allied with the government of the State of Santander. The same text, supplemented by an editorial commentary, was printed in the Diario de Cundinamarca, the mouthpiece of the radicals there, on 30 September 1879. The most comprehensive study on the issue so far is Mario Acevedo Díaz, La Culebra Pico de Oro (Historia de un conflito social). Rodríguez Plata also gives a description of the events in consideration of contemporary Colombian sources on 63–82 of La inmigración. He cites both sides explicitly. Also see Serrano Blanco, El libro, 103–118. Serrano Blanco's work is based on the files of the trial against the participants of the riots in San Gil on 21 November 1881. Also see: Johnson, Santander, 280–283.

32 20 July 1882 Diario Oficial (DO) no 5416, p. 10716.

33 Acevedo Díaz, La Culebra, 54, 132–136.

34 Herman Hederich was from Bremen. He was one of the partners of Hederich & Goelkel, a commercial house in Bremen. His company yielded an annual profit of 4,000 to 5,000 pesos. In addition, he earned an annual salary of 2,200 pesos as director of the Santander bank. He left a wife and six children. Christian Goelkel was born in Coburg. He was the other partner of that commercial house. His annual profits were about the same as Hedrich's. He left one child and a sister-in-law with four children. Ernst Müller was from Hamburg. He was a clerk at Koppel & Schrader. His severe injury forced him to return home. Archivo del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (AMRE), Legación de Alemania en Colombia, 1887–1904, Asuntos de Bucaramanga, 334.

35 Ibid., Fritsch later estimated his damage losses at 2,051 pesos.

36 Ibid., Valenzuela later estimated his damage losses at 4,904 pesos.

37 Ibid., Wilhelm Schrader later estimated his damage losses at 3,750 pesos.

38 Such was the (correct) interpretation from the Colombian Secretario de lo Interior y Relaciones Exteriores, Luis Carlos Rico. Letter to General Sergio Camargo in London, Bogotá 27 September 1879, AMRE Legación de Colombia en Londres 1864–1890.

39 The president of the State of Santander to the inhabitants of Bucaramanga, 12 September 1879 in ‘Memoria del Secretario del Interior y Relaciones Esteriores [Luis Carlos Rico] dirijida al Presidente de la Union para el Congreso de 1880’, Documentos, 74.

40 Ibid., 25.

41 Published in: Acevedo Díaz, La Culebra, 247–252. It was signed by Pedro J. Collazos, Juan de la Cruz Delgado R., Pedro Martinez R., Marcelino Vega, Juan de Jesús Quiroz, Antonio Navarro, Sacramento Adarme, Alejandro Pradilla, Norberto Liczano, Isaac Toscano, Isidro Guerrero, Clímaco Rueda, Juan Esteban Téllez, José Martínez, Santiago García, Nepomuceno Argūello and Rafael Consuegra.

42 The classical study on the moral justification of lower-class protests is Edward P. Thompson's investigation in food revolts in 18th-century England. Thompson's opinion is based on the assumption that the protests against rising food prices originated from an ‘economy of the poor’. He bases their aimed actions against millers and bakers on paternalistic values and a locally and regionally limited horizon. The essay ‘Die moralische Ökonomie der englischen Unterschichten im 18. Jahrhundert’ has been published in: Thompson, Edward P., Plebeische Kultur und moralische ökonomie: Aufsätze zur englischen Sozialgeschichte des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts (Frankfurt a. M. 1980) 67–130.Google Scholar

43 The abuse of alcohol in Bucaramanga has become so common that today, the younger generation – especially the young men working in German firms – is completely lost. The vice has hardened public morals to the extent that in every store and shop and in many trading firms, bottles of brandy and glasses are kept within reach. As if it were the most innocent matter in the world, anyone who enters is offered a drink, especially when he comes to do business. Apart from a mere handful of honourable exceptions these people, corrupted by such deplorable behavior, actually constitute what is regarded the business community. These undeniable facts, plain for all to see, whether Santandereanos or enemies. For such are the licentious people who go about offending our community with their mistresses, the seduction of minors, and all their other vices that are much more degrading than the crimes attributed to ourselves. Far from passing for saints, most of us are, at least, decently married.

Acevedo Díaz, La Culebra, 242f.

44 So said Luis María Otero, Supreme Judge of the State of Santander, in his grounds against the instigators. 20 July 1882, DO no 5416, p. 10715.

45 Neither intelligence, nor enlightenment, nor rectitude, nor even noble feelings can be found amongst those administrators of violence, for they certainly do not administrate the public interest. The state is a snake pit. The people are heroic, but obedient, they die for liberty but they do not rise in rebellion. It is easy to abuse the people's obedience, which explains why a bad government, even as despicable a regime as the one that today puts the state to shame, is tolerated. People prefer the disastrous consequences rather than organize an insurrection which profoundly demoralizes the country.

Diario de Cundinamarca no 2561, 30 September 1879.

46 Letter of Troplong to Ministro de Asuntas Exteriores y Culto (MAEC) 30 September 1879, Archives du Ministre des Affaires Étrangers Paris, Correspondence Consulair (AMAEP CC) Bogota, Vol. 10, 55r.–56v.

47 Letter from 1 August 1880, Zentrales Staatsarchiv Potsdam, auswärtiges Amt (ZStAP AA) Politische Abteilung (PA), no 52694, 15v.

48 Confidential letter from Philipsborn by order of the Chancellor of the Empire to Salomon Koppel, Consul of the German Empire in Bogotá, 3 December 1879 (Copy), ZStAP AA PA, no 52694, 55.

49 During the preparations to protect its violated interests in Colombia, the Imperial Government took the view that the participation of the mayor and the transfer to him of power in Bucaramanga, made the authorities and the government of Colombia somehow directly responsible for the incident.

Letter by Busch from the Royal Ministry of the Exterior to Carl Lueder, minister resident in Bogotá, 7 April 1881, ZStAP AA PA, no 52694, 23.

50 The remaining sum for the relatives of the German victims in Bucaramanga was paid in the summer of 1884. Wolff, Reinhard, 100 Jahre deutsch-kolumbianische Beziehungen 1845–1945 (Bogotá 1947) 44.Google Scholar

51 Letter from Koppel to Luis Carlos Rico, ‘Secretario de lo Interior y Relaciones Exteriores’, 28 January 1880, DO no 4657, 6 March 1880, p. 7675. The town had actually not come to rest quickly. On occasion of the celebrations for the newly elected Federal President shouts for ‘viva la libertad de los presos’ were heard. The major who commanded the brigade of the Colombian army stationed in Bucaramanga was also attacked by young members of the ‘circulo violento’. Report filed by Miguel D. Granados, ‘Jefatura departamental de Soto’, 13 February 1880 for the Ministerial Director of Santander. Ibid., p. 7676.

52 Thus, 24 persons remained imprisoned. Luis Carlos Rico, the Colombian minister of the Exterior, made clear that, according to Colombian law, nobody whose guilt was not proved could be held in captivity. A collective guilt did not exist. German citizens would be free to supply the jurisdiction with incriminating evidence at any time. Ibid., letter to Koppel, 3 February 1880. Also see Pablo Barrájas' justification of thejuez superior de lo criminal in San Gil to the Ministerial Director of Santander of 18 February 1880, Ibid., 76f.

53 DO no 4416, 20 July 1882, pp. 10715–10717.

54 Hettner, Alfred, Reism in den columbianischen Anden (Leipzig 1888) 299.Google Scholar

55 DO no 4416, 20 July 1882, pp. 10715–10717.

56 The cause of the German-Nicaraguan conflict was completely different from the events in Bucaramanga. The conflict in Nicaragua between the German merchant Paul Eisenstück and a Nicaraguan official from León who was married to his step-daughter had been triggered by something else. The quarrel turned into a state-to-state issue after the merchant had asked the German Empire for support. The Nicaraguan government was impressed by the armada of six warships which cruised in Nicaraguan coastal waters and finally gave in. The Nicaraguan government fulfilled all German demands. Schoonover, Thomas, The United States in Central America, 1860–1911: Episodes of Social Imperialism and Imperial Rivalry in the World System (Durham and London 1991) 62–76.Google Scholar

57 To publicly disavow the outrages committed against the office and the person of the Imperial consul under the influence of Colombian officials, by a salute of the German flag, and to avoid further similar violations of international law by the ceremony. Deutscher Reichsanzeiger no 56, 7 March 1881.

58 The Germans' enemies in Bucaramanga had circulated a pamphlet which was felt an offence by German circles. See Consul Salomon Koppel to the Secretaría del Interior y Relaciones Exteriores 28 January 1880, Bogotá, printed in: DO no 4657, 6 March 1880, p. 7675. On the situation at Bucaramanga after the arrest of the insurgents see also the report of Miguel D. Granados.Jefatura departamental de Soto, to the Secretario General of the State of Santander, Bucaramanga, 13 February 1880, DO no 4657, 6 March 1880, p. 7676.

59 Ibid.

60 Martínez, Manuel Alberto Garnica, ‘Guarapo, champaña y vino bianco: Presencia alemana en Santander en el Siglo’, XIX, BCB 29/29 (1992) 54; Roberto Harker Valdivieso, Bucaramanga: Los inmigrantes y el progreso, 1492–1992 (n.p. n.y.) 47.Google Scholar

61 Johnson, David Church, ‘Reyes González Hermanos: La formación del capital durante la regeneración en Colombia’, BCB 23/9 (1986) 34.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., 39.

63 On the colonisation and exploitation of Alta Vera Paz by German tradesmen see Rösch, Adrian, Allerlei aus der Alta Vera Paz. Bilder aus dem deutschen Leben in Guatemala 1868–1930 (Stuttgart 1934).Google Scholar In 1913 about one third of all coffee exports came from 170 German plantations. Sapper, Karl, ‘Deutschtum und Kaffeebau in Mittelamerika’, Koloniale Rundschau 1922, 251–260.Google Scholar

64 The crime of Bucaramanga may be repeated tomorrow in Bogotá, where more riches are amassed than in any other city of the republic, overflowing with an impoverished populace covetously eyeing the luxury goods in the stores of European merchants. In the same way, they look at the bags full of pesos with which the bank safes are stuffed day after day. Already, the walls in the city are covered with graffiti urging the pillage of foreign businesses and the massacre of the wealthy, glorifying the example given by the assassins of Santander province.

Letter from Troplong to MAEC, 30 September 1879, AMAEP CC Bogotá, Vol. 10, 63.

65 Petition of the Swiss Club of Barranquilla to the Swiss Executive Federal Council, 15 March 1880, Schweizerischer Bundesarchiv (SBA) E2/Archnr. 267, box 50.

66 Confidential report, 10 November 1884, Public Record Office/Foreign Office (PRO/FO) 135/144.

67 Eder, Phanor James, El Fundador Santiago M. Eder (Bogotá 1981) 331f.Google Scholar