Historia Agraria - History Lab

Sanded agriculture on Lanzarote: vineyards

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

The expansion of vineyards on the island of Lanzarote took place in the mid-18th century. After the episodes of volcanic eruptions in the 1730s, the planting of grapes gained strength on the island with the productive restructuring that took place; the must was boosted and was destined for the production of brandy, which was sold in the American territories of Spain. But what was the system used to make the grapes withstand the climatic conditions? Lapilli”, small fragments of lava thrown up by volcanoes. This material captures the ambient humidity and transfers it to the mantle of the topsoil, providing water in environments with scarce rainfall. The procedure was as follows: they dug holes to plant the vine in the ground and covered the hole with lapilli and, at the top, surrounded the cleft with dry stone to avoid extreme heat temperatures. In this way, vineyards proliferated in Lanzarote, reaching a value of 1,429,491 reales at the end of the 18th century.

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Sanded agriculture on Lanzarote: water crops

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

The volcanoes, although they caused destruction and losses of cereals and livestock, brought about new forms of agriculture using volcanic materials. On the island of Lanzarote, following the eruption of the volcano in the 1730s, a process of agricultural transformation took place. The technique of sanding, which consisted of covering the soil with a layer to buffer the climatic conditions, found its maximum expression on the island with “lapilli”, a volcanic material with a hygroscopic effect (accumulation of ambient humidity). With this method, the soil was covered with lapilli, where the seeds were planted, and ploughed. With the volcanic material, the scarce autumn rains were sufficient to irrigate crops that required water, such as vegetables, pulses or potatoes.

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International maritime wax production and trade around 1800

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

Spanish pastoral beekeeping during the Modern Age was one of the most advanced beekeeping systems in Europe. The seasonal movement of hives became widespread in Spain in the early modern period; other countries such as France had to wait until the end of the 18th century to experience the necessary conditions for the development of the beekeeping sector. As a result, the amount of honey and wax collected increased. The resource shows the production of wax, marked on the map with cross lines, and its distribution throughout Europe and the western Mediterranean. In Spain, the main beekeeping areas were the regions of Galicia, Extremadura, the north and Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, the south and centre of Aragon, the Valencian coast, the north of Majorca, Murcia and parts of La Mancha. Waxes came to the Peninsula from the Netherlands, the Maghreb and the French region of Landes; however, due to the wars of the Revolution and the French Empire, trade channels were affected.

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Growth of livestock farming in Cantabria, 1598-1752

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:46 +0000

Livestock farming in Cantabria went from a phase of depression in the 17th century to the great expansion of the following century. The author analyses the evolution of this sector through two areas, one Atlantic, the Asturian valleys of Santillana, which showed a demographic explosion greater than the Hermandad de Campoo de Suso, a transition area towards the plateau. The demographic and economic growth, together with a decrease in taxes, led to the expansion of livestock farming: cattle and cattle tripled in number, pigs and horses doubled in number. Moreover, the greater diffusion of agriculture did not mean the decline of livestock as in other areas of Spain; on the contrary, many species became protagonists of the agricultural mechanics: small livestock served as an instrument of the ploughing advance against the mountain, large livestock as a draught force for ploughing, and the manure from both as fertile ferment for the seeds. With regard to the growth of the sector, the spread of maize in the coastal regions of Cantabria was the main reason for the greater growth of this area compared to the inland areas, as the demand for draught animals increased exponentially.

The post Growth of livestock farming in Cantabria, 1598-1752 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution between Andalusian and feudal hydraulics in Valencia, 8th-18th centuries

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:46 +0000

Obtaining water for cultivation has always been one of the social and economic concerns of farmers. From the late medieval water systems to the end of the Ancien Régime, the techniques and forms of irrigated agriculture evolved fruitfully. The resource shows the evolution of “Andalusian” and “feudal” approaches, giving them a distinct chronological space for both (13th-13th centuries for the former, and 13th-18th centuries for the latter). It was not only technological progress that had an influence; also the administration of irrigated land, the morphology of the market gardens, the mechanical priorities, the social use of water and hydraulic management favoured the development of the extension of irrigated cultivation in the Valencian countryside. With the increase and improvement of soil irrigation, horticultural crops and Valencian rice were able to expand.

The post Evolution between Andalusian and feudal hydraulics in Valencia, 8th-18th centuries first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the productive structure of Lanzarote, 1601-1720

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:46 +0000

The discovery of the Canary Islands for Spain and Europe meant, with the conquest of the islands, that the native economy went from subsistence to a support economy, linked to supplying the voyages to Africa or America, and to an agro-export economy. The internal demography of the territory also affected the consumption pattern. At the end of the 16th century, the island of Lanzarote had little more than 1,500 inhabitants, leading to a decrease in cereal consumption and an increase in livestock farming. However, the 17th century saw a period of demographic recovery for Lanzarote, tripling its population and, consequently, its economic structure: from 1630 onwards, livestock farming declined and the “rayas” of the “vegas”, i.e. the land used for cereals and the boundaries separating the land, became more important. Within cereals, wheat production remained stagnant throughout the 17th century, while white barley production rose from 15,000 bushels to 70,000 bushels at the beginning of the following century. What was the cause of this growth? The author points out that, while wheat was more sensitive to rainfall, barley was better adapted to climatic instability and poorer quality soil.

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Distribution of land ownership among households in the mid-18th century

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

In the Ancien Régime, land ownership was concentrated in the hands of a few. The Military Orders, churches and convents were some of the institutions that owned the most, thus benefiting the privileged classes. The existing inequalities are reflected when we analyse the property owned by the heads of different households. If we take as an example some municipalities in inland Spain, we can see that, in the mid-18th century, between a third and half of the households did not own land. Among those who did own land, it was small, not exceeding 1 hectare in most cases. Only 1 to 3 per cent of households owned more than 100 hectares. The unequal distribution translated into worse economic conditions, and these were reflected in family structures: while the average household size was around 3.75-4 persons, privileged families increased the number of members to 6 or 7.

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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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