Between 1591 and 1752 there is no reliable population count available for Extremadura as a whole, so the figures presented must be considered as mere approximate estimates, as this is the only possible way to be minimally reliable. The sample consulted is based on 37 localities (18 in Badajoz and 19 in Cáceres) which accounted for 13.87% of the surface area and 17.47% of the population of Extremadura in 1787. The demographic evolution of Extremadura in the Modern Age can be divided into three main stages. The first comprises 1500-1574 when there was an upward trend; the second from 1575-1651 which, on the other hand, was an intense depressive movement, followed by the period from 1652-1835 with a new population increase. Within the last phase, it is necessary to explain two sub-phases: one of recovery in 1652-1759 until the maximum birth rate of the 16th century was regained, and the real boom, from 1760 to 1835. Prior to these stages, macrodemographic sources such as baptismal records suggest that the number of Extremadurians recorded a notable increase in the first three quarters of the 16th century. From the mid-16th century onwards, the population of Extremadura began a very long period of positive growth which lasted until the end of the Ancien Régime. However, neither wars nor catastrophic mortality seem to be the main reasons for the almost two centuries it took the region to recover the maximum number of baptised people. Without forgetting the migratory movement – of which few results are known – the available evidence points to a demographic collapse that is intertwined with the behaviour of fertility.
Collection: Statistics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Statistics
Format: Table
Source: Llopis Agelan, Enrique et. Al., «El movimiento de la población extremeña durante el Antiguo Régimen», Revista de Historia Económica, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 8, 2 (1990), pp. 419–464.
Language: Spanish
Date: 1990
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: © Enrique Llopis Agelán, ©Miguel Melón Jiménez ©Miguel Rodríguez Cancho ©Alfonso Rodríguez Grajera ©Francisco Zarandieta © Revista de Historia Económica
Abstract: Distribution of the population of Extremadura based on the 1591 census compared to the Floridablanca census
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