1752 - History Lab

Distribution of land ownership in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753). Cultivated land.

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

In mountain areas such as the Sierra de Alcaraz, land ownership was conditioned by the orography of the territory. In 1753, 28.3% of the land in this mountain range was under cultivation. Of this figure, almost 50% of the cultivation belonged to only 2% of the owners. Likewise, almost half of the total landowners owned only 2% of the arable land. The marked imbalance of ownership translated into different economic benefits: the concentration of land in a few hands meant that 17% of landowners owned more than 1,000 reals of gross produce, a figure that rose to more than 40,000 for the few individuals who owned the most; again, conversely, more than 70% of landowners owned less than 500 reals of produce. The rest of the uncultivated land, 71.7%, could belong to the Council, which was also controlled by the local elites. Livestock farming, like agriculture, showed the same tendency towards concentration in the hands of a few individuals. The survival and future of the less well-off depended on the leasing of land, either for cultivation or as pasture for livestock. These data are but one concrete example of the inequalities that existed in the Ancien Régime and which were perpetuated throughout southern Spain.

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The post Distribution of land ownership in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753). Cultivated land. first appeared on History Lab.

Distribution of the population according to social groups in Navahermosa (Toledo) in 1752

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:52 +0000

Navahermosa formed part (1243-1837) of the Montes y Propios de Toledo, a lordship in the hands of the city, which appointed the authorities and administered justice through the Fiel Juzgado. Its population experienced a notable quantitative growth in the little more than one hundred years between 1752 and 1877. From the 1,874 inhabitants recorded in the Ensenada Cadastre, it grew to 3,217 in the 1877 census. The growth, which must have been vegetative in the first instance, was due to the arrival of immigrants, whose presence is common in the parish registers from the second decade of the 19th century. The existence of the social division of labour within a society meant that, on occasions, certain members of a family were involved in different productive processes. Each family unit occupied a place in the social division of labour determined by the head of the family, even if some of its members had a different activity. In functionalist terms, we assume that the social position of a family was primarily determined by the socially ascribed valuation and the social role played by the head of the family. The category of farmers is the result of an aggregation of neighbours to whom the Cadastre of 1752 gives various designations. In its conformation, everything indicates that, in the majority of cases, the day labourers cultivated their own land, alternating this work with the work they carried out as wage labourers. These circumstances placed them in a somewhat precarious position. The day labourers were able to find relief from their situation thanks to the exploitation rights of the inhabitants of the villages in the mountains and in the city of Toledo. The group of craftsmen was made up of potters, wheelwrights, tailors, masons, shoemakers and weavers, among others; under the term “professionals” we have gathered together eight residents who worked as doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, surveyors, notaries, teachers of the first letters, sacristans and sacristans. Within the group of the poor, widows without property were added to those classified as the solemnly poor.

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Evolution of the population of Castile between 1591 and 1787

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:40 +0000

For the elaboration of this resource the author uses secondary sources that compile the population of the Crown of Castile between 1591 and 1787. The historical sources used were the Censo de Millones (1591), Censo de la Sal (1631), Vecindario de 1683, Catastro del Marqués de la Ensenada (1752) and the Censo de Floridablanca (1787). In general terms, the population increased in these two centuries, from 5,302,000 to 7,298,000 inhabitants, with periods of demographic decline explained by the crises of the 17th century. Between 1591 and 1683 the growth rate was negative, -0.27, although the decline was not generalised; Galicia and the Cantabrian coast increased their population in this period. The great leap was between 1683 and 1752 with a growth rate of 0.47, a positive differential of 1,822,000 inhabitants. In the first half of the 18th century, the territories of Andalusia, Extremadura and both Castiles recovered, with growth slowing down in the second half of the century, and even falling between 1760 and 1770 in Castile la Nueva.

The post Evolution of the population of Castile between 1591 and 1787 first appeared on History Lab.

Census of the Marqués de la Ensenada of 1752

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:33 +0000

This is the census carried out by order of the Marquis de la Ensenada in 1752. Together with the Cadastre of the same name, it is one of the fundamental primary sources for the study of the 18th century. In it we can find the list of towns, inhabitants and buildings of each province, as well as a cartographic series that includes maps of the 22 intendencies of the census.

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