The population of Cuenca in 1561 reached 17,000 inhabitants compared to Toledo’s population of around 30,000. If for the whole of Castile a population decrease of 36-42% of the inhabitants of Cuenca is estimated, comparing the data of 1591 and 1712, in the case of Cuenca the decrease is particularly steep, losing 83.6% of its population. At the end of the 17th century it experienced a small demographic recovery, participating in the general increase in Castile as a whole, reaching the levels of 1591, which was cut short by the War of the Spanish Succession. As for the province, a decline of 51% was calculated, as in Valladolid and Extremadura. These reductions translated into a population decline in the region between 1591-1646 of 35%, while in the city of Cuenca itself it reached 61.5%, falling from 3,120 at the end of the 16th century to just 1,200 in 1644. The decline during the first half of the 16th century was largely due to deindustrialisation due to the decline of the textile industry, which brought with it a process of deurbanisation at the end of the century. As part of the model of inland Spain, Cuenca participated in a demographic resurgence during the 17th century, as did Guadalajara, where the population grew modestly throughout the 17th century, with an increase in baptisms of 17.7%, without recovering the highs of the 16th century until 1790.
Collection: Graphics
Project: 3. Rural world and urban world in the formation of the European identity., 4. Family, daily life and social inequality in Europe.
Chronology: XVIII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Link: https://adeh.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ADEH-2020-1-Victor-Alberto-Garcia-Heras.pdf
Resource type: Graph
Format: Bar chart
Source: García Heras, Víctor Alberto, «Crisis poblacional: Escasez, conflicto y mortalidad. La Guerra de Sucesión en Cuenca», Revista de Demografía Histórica, vol. 38, nº1, 2020, pp. 7–35.
Language: Spanish
Date: 2020
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: ©Víctor Alberto García Heras; ©Revista de Demografía Histórica
Abstract: The evolution of the population in the province of Cuenca from 1561 to 1762
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