At the end of the Modern Age, the Spanish urban system benefited from demographic growth. In 1787, there were a total of 191 cities in Spain with more than 5,000 inhabitants. The spatial distribution of cities was especially concentrated in the centre and south of the peninsula: Andalusia, Old Castile, New Castile and Murcia were the territories with the most cities, with 66, 14, 19 and 17 respectively (a total of 116, accounting for more than half of the total). Another important area was the Mediterranean coast: Valencia had 23 and Catalonia 13 cities. The other regions of western and northern Spain, as well as the island territories, were less prolific in the formation of large urban centres. Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country and Navarre did not exceed 7 cities. The fundamental element lies in the strength of Castile during the Modern Age, which always had a larger population than the Crown of Aragon. However, despite the fact that the Crown of Aragon had fewer cities, their average size tended to be larger. Thus, Catalan cities were among the largest in Spain with an average size of 17,414 inhabitants, a figure that is only approximated in Castile by Castile la Nueva with 14,669 inhabitants. It is worth mentioning the area of Galicia; although it only had 5 towns, the average size was 12,225 people, a figure similar to that of Valencia (12,817) even though the latter had 23 important nuclei.

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: XVIII

Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University

Link: https://www.adeh.org/revista/2003,%201/Perez%20Moreda%20p.113-140.pdf

Resource type: Statistics

Format: Table

Source: Pérez Moreda, V., Y Reher, D. (2003). “Hacia una definición de la demografía urbana: España en 1787”, en Revista de Demografía Histórica, XXI, I, p. 119.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2003

Owner: Pablo Ballesta Fernández (Modernalia)

Copyright: ©Revista de Demografía Histórica ©Vicente Pérez Moreda ©David Reher

Abstract: Regional contrasts in the distribution of urban centres in Spain in 1787

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