Lanzarote - 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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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.

The post Evolution of the productive structure of Lanzarote, 1601-1720 first appeared on History Lab.