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Industrial
History of Sonora
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Enrique Yescas |
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Romanticism
and traditions gather around the stories of old
times, when Indian and Chinese worked in industries
and mines of Sonora. The days were technological
advances, such as the steam engine, were brought
to this land are richly compiled by historians.
Sonora has evolved throughout time, in the Northwest
of Mexico a mixture of races and cultures has
emerged: some from Saxon Europe, some from Spain
and Middle East, giving the people a heritage
of creativity and work.
Just as missionaries came to Sonora with mills
and plows, now we welcome our new visitors that
come to look for a place to settle their factories.
We now participate in the world’s great industries:
electronics, computers, automobiles, and aero
spatial components. |
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Sonora’s
industrial history is prior to the arrival of Spaniards,
local tribes had certain level of industrialization
processing their seeds and natural products. Local crafts
were also manufactured for trade.
In the 1500s, conquerors brought new plowing techniques,
they taught us how to prepare flour in mills and how
to use animal traction and hydraulic energy.
The first colonizers that arrived to Sonora shared the
locals how to make dress, how to preserve food, and
the process of extraction of minerals. These is the
basis of Sonora’s actual industry.
The resources that Spaniards found in Mexico and the
mineral deposits found and exploited in Sonora, brought
that time’s most advanced machinery and instruments.
Franciscans and Jesuits contributed with the technological
and cultural transfer to this region.
For many years, there was no more technological transfer
from Europe. Instead, knowledge and modern articles
were brought by sailors through Guaymas. North American
colonizers also brought their |
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techniques. With all this influences, traditional
cuisine evolved, along with medicine and transportation.
Industries, still home-based, started to grow.
In the XIX century, mining was the main cause of technology
imports. This technology was later spread to the region.
Later came the railroad that connected Guaymas to
Nogales. This was the first line that connected two
international customs through Mexican territory. The
railroad contributed greatly to the economy of the
region. Some of these industries survived the revolution
until the XX century, other survived until the crisis
at the end of the 1920s.
The modern industrial times in Sonora, are marked
by the leadership of government from 1964, when Sonora
starts to be considerated as an industrial region.
The Federal Government starts a program to encourage
investment in the in-bond industry. Sonora imported
components and exported final products adding labor.
The in-bond system in the Mexican boarder was planned
to increase the percentage of local components throughout
the program. The technological value added, and the
local components were small. Then NAFTA was signed
and trade was liberalized. Sonora embraced globalization
and delivers high quality products to North America
such as Ford automobiles. Sonora has a wide range
of services and industrial facilities.
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communications globalize and the industry evolves |
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Many
investments arrived to Sonora thanks to roads,
marine routes and railroad, years later, supplies
arrived from the center of the country and ended
a period of industrialization.
Mills could not compete with grain or flours taken
to communities by the popular supply systems,
that were sponsored by the government and delivered
through new highways and offered lower prices.Soon
production coming from the center of the country
spreader to the states supplying clothes and fabrics.
In the middle of XXth century, a new type of industries
came to settle in Sonora. These industries were
products from oil, cotton, beer, and large scale
canning plants that transformed local raw materials
to take them to remote markets just as retailers
could bring manufactured products from other countries.
Víctor Villalobos, chronics man and friend
of Sahuaripa say in its communication for XIII
the Symposium of the Sociedad Sonorense de Historia:
"In the middle of the XXth century industry
flourished with lots of human effort whose main
energy was "love" and with massive quality
labor. Employment was generated but it gradually
declined with the entrance of mechanization, along
with social revolution of the proletariat which
demanded daily and fixed payment. Costs raised
which lead to loss of competitiveness.
In Sahuaripa, there were three flour mills that
processed all the wheat harvested in the region.
Two of them were steam based, (mechanized later)
and one was moved by water.
There was a diversity of production: piloncillo,
hand-made cigarettes, clothes from dresses and
shirts to suits and wedding gowns, soap and BACANORA
with rudimentary stills scattered along the municipality.
We were self-sufficient in almost everything.
Now, we bring products from the big cities..."
In the XXI century, communication is simple, the
low-cost transport and industry looks for ways,
to produce at lower cost and therefore, chooses
the complete package that the regions of the world
offer. |
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