Antonio Julián, A Jesuit Writes to the King: Profits from Coca Leaf Could Surpass Tea

In the Colonial Crucible era (1600-1810), the Spanish Crown had a stronghold in the Latin American economy. During this time, New Granada (currently known as Colombia) was established as a viceroyalty (Chasteen 58). This establishment suggests the commercial importance of Colombia. During this time, Jesuit Father Antonio Julián (1722-1790) had his own ideas about Spain’s economic involvement in Colombia (“Browse all Jesuits”). He came to Colombia in 1749, but in 1767, the Spanish Crown expelled Jesuits from Latin America. After this expulsion, Julián wrote a book entitled La Perla de América encouraging the Spanish to involve themselves more in the natural resources of Carribean Colombia (Julián 450).

In an excerpt of the book known as A Jesuit Writes to the King: Profits from Coca Leaf Could Surpass Tea, Julían writes to the Spanish king, arguing that bringing the Hayo, or coca lead to benefit Spain and that the crop could lead to more economic prosperity than tobacco, coffee, or tea (Julián 450). Julián uses his encounters with the Guajiro Indians to describe their frequent consumption of coca leaves to suggest how it is a valued commodity. Specifically, the Guajiro traded pearls for coca leaves. To stress the popularity of the leaves, Julián claims the Guajiro “would go without food rather than go without a secure supply of Hayo” (452). In order to convince the king of cultivation, Julían specifies the benefits he believes the leaves provide, such as  “serving as a cure and tonic for so many ills, a replenisher for lost strength, and a prolonger of human life” (451). Julián believes that these benefits can make the leaves popular in Europe and therefore be “very profitable” (451).

In reality, the cultivation of coca leaves under colonial economic systems, such as the encomienda, had detrimental effects on the indigeous populations of Colombia. A specific event that showed this was the establishment of the cocales, or coca leaf plantations, where indigenous people were enslaved. They were given coca leaves to eat so the Spanish overseers would not have to provide them with as much food and water and so that they could stay awake longer. These plantations caused many indigenous people to die “from poor nutrition, exhaustion, and European diseases” (Villar and Cottle 22).

Works Cited

“Browse all Jesuits.” Jesuit Online Bibliography: A Free, Searchable Collection of Jesuit Studies Scholarship. Accessed April 7, 2021. https://jesuitonlinebibliography.bc.edu/terms/jesuits?letter=All. 

Chasteen, John C. “Colonial Crucible.” In Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, edited by Jon Durbin, 4th ed., 55-93. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016.

Julián, Antonio. “A Jesuit Writes to the King: Profits from Coca Leaf Could Surpass Tea.” In The Colombia Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by López Ana María Gómez, Farnsworth-Alvear Ann, and Palacios Marco, 450-53. Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2017. Accessed April 7, 2021. doi:10.2307/j.ctv125jtrj.87.

VILLAR, OLIVER, and DREW COTTLE. “From Coca to Cocaine.” In Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror: U.S. Imperialism and Class Struggle in Colombia, 21-34. NYU Press, 2011. Accessed April 7, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg4z3.6.