Guadalajara - History Lab

Map of New Galicia, 1550

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:37 +0000

Contains a map of the province of Nueva Galicia. Boundaries: the Pacific Ocean to the south, the mines of Zacatecas to the north, the province of Michoacán to the east, and the villages of Cora, Guaynamota and Senstispac to the west. The orientation differs from the real one, as N is to the E of the map. It contains an extensive toponymy of towns and cities, as well as the Grande River and its tributaries, the lagoons of Chapala and Etzatlán, and the road that starts in Mexico, crosses Guadalajara and reaches Compostela through Etzatlán. The city of Guadalajara occupies a central space, represented with an urban grid layout. It indicates mining settlements, Spanish towns, indigenous villages and uninhabited areas. They are represented by means of buildings in elevation with flat or gabled roofs with vegetal roofing and a front door with two windows on the side. The towns under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia de México [towns of Ávalos] are marked with a cross above the villas, as indicated in the note overleaf. The river seems to indicate the border between the pacified land and the land of war. To the north of this is an abundance of human figures in war scenes. In the upper left-hand corner are the larger ones: a warrior with bow, arrows and quiver and two scenes of human sacrifice, the rest carrying bows in a warlike attitude. The ethnic groups at war are indicated: Tepeguanes, Tequales, Xuxuctequanes, Guaxixícar, Tezoles, Guaxacatlan, Chichimecas. On the coast another war scene next to Frayles called Punta de los Teconios. Mountainous territory, especially on the left and upper part, whose orography is represented in profile by means of scratches. The peñoles, or indigenous fortified defensive settlements located on the hilltops, are indicated: Teúl, Miztón [Mixtón], Juchipila Nochistlán and Coyna, war zones. The explanation and distances are found in the associated documentation. On the back are the notes: “Todos los pueblos que tyenen cruzes / son de la governación de Mexyco. El lic[encia]do Hern[an]do Martínez de la Marcha [signature and rubric]”. / “Contóse por hoja [rubric]” / “Contóse por hoja [rubric]”.

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Infantado Palace

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

Straddles the period between late Gothic and early Renaissance. It is an example of aristocratic residences, which move from castles to cities. In this case, the Mendozas controlled a royal city such as Guadalajara, where they also established their pantheon. They were one of the most egregious lineages of the Greatness of Spain, standing out as politicians, warriors, men of letters and ecclesiastics. Their domains show the patronage and collectionism typical of their high status.

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The population of Guadalajara (Spain) in 1591. Original figures and corrected figures

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

The predominance of the rural over the urban world in Guadalajara was overwhelming until a few decades ago. The present-day province had its homonymous city which, according to counts, never concentrated more than 3.8% of the population; its towns, villages and farmhouses always housed more than 95% of its inhabitants. According to the calculations, the 1591 count exaggerates the size of the neighbourhood, as it takes into account different conditioning factors: the census took place during a phase of demographic expansion in Guadalajara during the fifteenth century, which reached the end of the 1580s, and during the recession, a birth rate of less than 35 ‰ is too low. On the other hand, as some authors point out, those who took the census of the millions relied on the local censuses of the ordinary and extraordinary service, and often tended to increase the number of neighbours so that the burdens could be shared. After various trials, a birth rate of 39 ‰ has been chosen because by 1590, the province was entering a phase of demographic recession, this percentage indicator being the rate that minimises the sharp contrast between the decline in baptisms and the population. The correction in the census of millions, which reduces the provincial number of inhabitants by 10.9%, is somewhat arbitrary, although it is based on the baptismal registers.

The post The population of Guadalajara (Spain) in 1591. Original figures and corrected figures first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the number of inhabitants of the province of Guadalajara (Spain) and its comarcas according to censuses and neighbourhoods (1530-1860)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:02 +0000

The predominance of the rural over the urban world in Guadalajara was overwhelming until a few decades ago. The present-day province had its homonymous city which, according to counts, never concentrated more than 3.8% of the population; its towns, villages and farmhouses always housed more than 95% of its inhabitants. The traditional division of the territory is made up of four comarcas: La Campiña, La Sierra, La Alcarria and Molina de Aragón. From the end of the 16th century, census figures reveal the marked demographic weakness of Guadalajara: from 1591 to 1860, the provincial population grew at an insignificant rate of 0.06%. In the two and a half centuries, the movement of the provincial rate of baptisms allows us to distinguish two phases: a downward trend culminating in the War of Succession and a phase of mild recovery from the end of the conflict until 1860. Between 1591 and 1860, population growth rates were very low or negative in La Alcarria and La Campiña, while in the two remaining counties they reached 0.20%, densely populated territories at the end of the 16th century. From the beginning of the 17th century to the mid-19th century, the provincial population tended to reduce its unequal spatial distribution. La Alcarria and La Campiña went from 74.4% in 1591 to 59.1% in 1860. However, the different counts allow us to examine the behaviour of the population of the province and its comarcas: from 1591 to 1752, the number of inhabitants fell by 40.3% in La Campiña; 21.3% in La Alcarria and 17.6% in the province, despite an increase of 16% in La Sierra and 28.5% in Molina de Aragón.

The post Evolution of the number of inhabitants of the province of Guadalajara (Spain) and its comarcas according to censuses and neighbourhoods (1530-1860) first appeared on History Lab.

Disentailed assets sold in Castile-La Mancha (1836-1844)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:27 +0000

In the liquidation of the Ancien Régime system, three major agrarian reforms were carried out by the liberal governments. The three disentailments had a great socio-economic impact, as the primary sector was the hegemonic sector in the Modern Age: the disentailments of Godoy (1798), of Mendizábal and Espartero (1836-1844) and the General Disentailment (1855-1895). But what were the disentailments? They were measures that put assets belonging to the Church, the municipalities and the aristocracy that could not be bought or sold up for auction. The aim was to liberalise the agrarian sector by changing the ownership of land and to increase the Treasury’s accounts with the auctions. The reality was that the auctioned land was bought back by the same people who owned it, without changing the ownership structures. Moreover, the disentailed collective and communal lands became private property. Wage-earning peasants, for their part, saw their traditional rights eroded as the concept of land ownership changed.
In Castile-La Mancha, the disentailment of 1836 particularly affected the province of Toledo, with 10,586 estates affected, which were valued at 66.9 million reales and sold at auction for 159.8 million reales. These figures for Toledo accounted for 5% of the national total. The province that contributed the least was Albacete with 772 estates valued at 6.7 million and sold for 11.9, a lower percentage improvement than the rest of the provinces (Ciudad Real 3,370 estates valued at 21 million and sold for 54.4; Cuenca 1,463 estates valued at 13.5 and auctioned for almost double that: 24.2; and Guadalajara with 10,354, valued at 20.6 and sold for 36.6). In sum, the disentailed Castilian-La Mancha lands were valued at 129 million and sold for almost 287 million, 9% of the national total.

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