The well-known Godoy Census was a general population count promoted by Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, First Secretary of State and Office of Charles IV. Published in 1801, it provides valuable data that give an insight into the situation of Spain at the end of the Enlightenment. It is not merely demographic in nature, but also economic, being conceived as an improved version of the previous Floridablanca Census. This tool allows a detailed reconstruction of the activities of the manufacturing sector in Avilés at the end of the Ancien Régime. The town provided employment for trades that either did not appear, or did so in a precarious way, in other parts of the region. An important branch of activity was textiles, especially work linked to the linen industry which, despite Campomanes’ wishes, could not lead industrialisation as it was subject to various limitations and foreign competition. With 117 weavers, the domestic manufacture of linen in Aviles was in the hands of women – it should be remembered that one of the great assets of this census is to highlight women’s work. Another textile speciality was tailoring, represented by 40 men and four women. It also included other trades such as footwear, which, together with tailoring, maintained the employment levels of 1753. However, the real specialisation was in copper working or boilermaking. Together with pottery, these set the tone for Avila’s manufactures at the end of the Ancien Régime. Among the coppersmiths, of which there were ten masters, the census included 45 boilermakers and 60 apprentices. The second most active branch was pottery, as most of the potters, located in Miranda, combined this occupation with agricultural work.

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://adeh.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/RDH-JIPS-2020-n2_Pablo-Sanchez.pdf

Resource type: Statistics

Format: Table

Source: Sánchez Pascual, Pablo, «El concejo de Avilés a través del Censo de Godoy (1797)», Revista de Demografía Histórica, vol. 38, nº2, 2020, pp. 135–166.

Language: Spanish

Date: 2020

Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)

Copyright: ©Pablo Sánchez Pascual, ©Revista de Demografía Histórica

Abstract: Secondary sector occupations recorded in Avilés in 1797

Image
Tags