Abstract

The final decades of the 19th century were critical for the economy tobacco company of the Dominican Republic. During much of the century, tobacco was the main export product of the country. But in the final decades of the century, tobacco was displaced by other crops as the main export product. The poor quality of the Dominican tobacco, increasing competition from other countries and European importers of the leaf were the reasons of the state of the tobacco economy. The twentieth century presented little auspicious for Dominican tobacco. Until mid-second decade of the new century, the price of tobacco exported suffered few alterations although it was not particularly high. Starting in 1915, prices began to increase. This was, however, hardly a small oasis. In 1919 a prolonged depressive period began that lasted until the early 1940s.