Nostromo is developed in the imaginary port Sulaco whose economy depends on silver mining. Draws the characteristics of domestic and international policy in Latin American countries of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the intervention of the United States to ensure their economic interests. The civil wars of the Creole elites, the intrigues and the supposedly "incorruptible" popular leader, finally determine the secession of Sulaco that declares itself independent of Costaguana, in order to secure the silver mine of San Tomé to the Americans and their associates in the local elite.

Conrad was inspired by the real events in Colombia and the separation of Panama supported by the United States in order to ensure control of the interoceanic canal, an event that occurred in 1903, one year before the publication of the novel.