Artículos de Revista en Ciencias Económicas · 2026
Weavers of connections : the business network in the textile industry of Antioquia in the early twentieth century
This article reconstructs the entrepreneurial investment network behind the rise of the textile industry in Antioquia – one of Colombia’s leading industrial regions – between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Drawing on firm-level ownership records from the Medellín Chamber of Commerce (1887–1934) and evidence on elite social connections, the study applies social network analysis to reconstruct the cross-sector investment ties linking textile entrepreneurs to commerce, industry, and banking. The results show that textile investors were most strongly connected to commercial activities, while banking displayed the highest level of centrality, acting as a key coordinating node across sectors. These network configurations reveal that the development of the textile industry relied on dense intersectoral linkages rather than on isolated entrepreneurial initiatives. By providing a sector-specific, quantitative reconstruction of investment networks, the study offers a refined perspective on how patterns of industrial consolidation emerged in a late-industrializing regional economy.