Latin America's first debt crisis

Between 1822 and 1825 Colombia, Chile, Peru, Buenos Aires, Brazil, Mexico, Central America and Guadalajara, and 'Poyais', a country that did not exist, sold about £21 million of bonds in London at an average discount of nearly 25 per cent, netting about £16 million. As the costs of the independence and civil wars mounted, every issue was in default by 1827; only Brazil settled quickly (1829), and most stayed in default for decades.

The mechanism

THE CLOCK

How it was checked

• EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
• Letter eraTHE SEAT MOVES TO THE BENCH 1713 to 1945
• SourcesRECORD — G. della Paolera and A. M. Taylor, 'Sovereign Debt in Latin America, 1820–1913', NBER Working Paper 18363 (2012) · checked 19 September: G. della Paolera and A. M. Taylor, NBER Working Paper 18363 (2012), full PDF