Málaga - History Lab

File on Miguel de Gálvez Maxent Gallardo

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:58 +0000

File of Miguel de Gálvez Maxent to enter as a student at the Royal Seminary of Nobles in Madrid. Son of D. Bernardo de Galvez, Lieutenant General of the Royal Armies, Knight Pensioner of the Royal Order of Charles III, Commander General of the Army of Operations in America. The document contains the seminarian’s baptismal certificate and testimony of nobility from 1792. Miguel de Gálvez was a member of the Gálvez family, born in Macharaviaya (Málaga), one of the most prominent families in 18th century Spanish politics.

The post File on Miguel de Gálvez Maxent Gallardo first appeared on History Lab.

The plague of 1679 in Antequera, Málaga

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

The plague, one of the greatest threats to public health, struck Antequera in 1679. After the strong impact it had on the city of Seville, reflected in an anonymous painting dated 1649, the city of Malaga followed the same fate. The painting, an anonymous oil painting dated 1723, depicts the religious nature of these episodes: the Virgin of the Rosary appears in the upper left-hand band as part of the religious programme. On the right is a rainbow, symbol of God’s mercy, above a pious procession. Below, the city, under a rain of arrows representing the plague, the action unfolds. The dead are piled into mass graves while objects and personal belongings are burnt. The living are assisted by doctors and surgeons, who perform precarious medicinal work for healing (bloodletting, draining buboes, gauzing with ointments or cauterising wounds with hot irons). In short, the author depicted the tragedy of the plague, its social implications and its connection with the religious mentality.

The post The plague of 1679 in Antequera, Málaga first appeared on History Lab.

Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries

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

The plague epidemic had an early manifestation in Spain. There is evidence of outbreaks of plague along the Mediterranean strip of the peninsula as early as the 6th-8th centuries. During the 14th century, the Black Death appeared in Europe, an epidemic which, interspersed with others such as influenza and typhus, reappeared in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1596 the plague reached the peninsula via Santander, a port area. It spread virulently through the territories of Extremadura and the two Castiles, especially the area around Madrid. The Cantabrian coast and Andalusia were also affected, as well as the area between Alicante and Valencia. It was in the latter city that another plague epidemic broke out years later, in 1647. From Valencia it spread to the northern part of the Crown of Aragon: Catalonia and the Aragonese territories themselves were affected. Andalusia was also hit again, with the city of Seville suffering significant human losses, where it is estimated that 45% of the population died. It was in Seville that another epidemic appeared in 1676. With no time to recover, cities such as Seville, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Jaen were the protagonists of the horror. They were joined by Cartagena, in the Kingdom of Murcia. These were the last large-scale epidemics to occur in the peninsular territories of the Hispanic Monarchy. Once the epidemic, demographic and food crises of the 17th century were overcome, the 18th century ushered in a period of generalised growth.

The post Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries first appeared on History Lab.

Engraving of the figure of St. Eloy, patron saint of silversmiths

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:14 +0000

The image represents an engraving by Fray Matías de Irala, dated 1733, which was incorporated as the back cover of the ordinances of the Board of Trade and Currency of 1771, reissued in 1831, concerning the practice of silversmithing. In this image we see Saint Eloy, the patron saint of silversmiths, on a pedestal adorned with the coat of arms of the city of Malaga, while above him two angels hold the coat of arms of King Philip V. The figure of the saint, in turn, is surrounded by six biblical figures: Moses, Beselel, Hyrán, Tare, Oliab and Solomon, all with recognisable attributes linked to silversmithing. Above them all is the motto: “Artis honor caelique dequs regumque potestas et saces antistes aureus Eligius”.

The post Engraving of the figure of St. Eloy, patron saint of silversmiths first appeared on History Lab.

Exhibition of playing cards from the Royal Factory of Macharaviaya

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:09 +0000

The Real Fábrica de Naipes was a factory that operated at the end of the 18th century in Macharaviaya (Málaga, Spain), between 1776 and 1815. It was José de Gálvez who, once appointed Minister of the Indies by Charles III and after his return from America in 1772, planned to set up a playing card factory in his native town. Its production was to be destined for the exclusive use of the American colonies. It was thought that the Royal Treasury would benefit greatly from the creation of the factory and Gálvez was very excited about the repercussions that this enterprise would have on his town. However, he did not take into account the lack of raw materials in the area, the lack of infrastructure or the few residents who lived in the village, most of whom were day labourers in the fields and, therefore, without any training to develop this economic activity. At that time, Macharaviaya was also one of the villages in Axarquia with the worst communications with the capital of the province, with scarce labour and little experience in manufacturing work. Without considering these disadvantages, and convinced of the economic benefits for his town, on 12 August 1776 a Royal Decree approved the establishment of the playing card factory. Felix Solecio, a native of Genoa, was appointed director of the factory. The State signed a ten-year contract with him, in which he undertook to use his own capital to pay for the cost of machinery, labour and the premises where the factory was to be established, in exchange for the Crown taking charge of all production. The Royal Decree stated the need to open paper mills in places where there was abundant wood, and this fact contributed decisively to the birth of the town of Arroyo de la Miel. About 60 families came to the village, the majority of whom were Italians, including draftsmen and craftsmen. However, some time later, poor distribution, lack of knowledge of the market and high prices, among other reasons, meant that the factory had to close. The Royal Order of 1815 abolished the tobacco stamp and liberalised the trade in playing cards. This fact and the loss of the American colonies led to the closure of the factory and its sale at public auction for 60,000 reales. The old building of the Real Fábrica de Naipes still stands today, and is occupied by private dwellings.

The post Exhibition of playing cards from the Royal Factory of Macharaviaya first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the volume of foundlings and legitimacy in Antequera, Malaga, between 1667 and 1700

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The parish registers of Antequera, shown in the graph provided by the author, show how the number of foundlings in Antequera at the end of the 17th century only decreased. However, this decrease was directly related to the epidemic crisis of 1679 which altered the demography and life cycles, lowering the nuptiality and, consequently, the birth rate. The research reveals that in the year with the highest number of baptisms, 1676, legitimate children accounted for 89%, while illegitimate children constituted 11%. On the other hand, in the year in which the fewest baptisms took place, 1684, foundlings accounted for 14%, an increase of 3%. Thus, the rate of abandonment was inversely proportional to the number of births. Finally, the fin-de-siècle crisis did not lead to an increase in the abandonment rate as families needed more useful hands to boost their economy.

The post Evolution of the volume of foundlings and legitimacy in Antequera, Malaga, between 1667 and 1700 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the volume of foundlings and legitimacy in Antequera, Malaga, between 1701 and 1750

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The resource shows us the number of abandoned children, foundlings, that took place in Antequera (Malaga) in the first half of the 18th century. The data reveal that the annual average number of foundlings was 60, a figure that remained relatively stable throughout this chronological period. However, the number of abandoned children is inversely related to the number of baptisms: on the one hand, the maximum number of baptisms is found in 1745, when 1,058 children were sacramentalised; in this year, foundlings accounted for 8%. On the other hand, in the year in which the fewest baptisms were recorded, 1738, foundlings accounted for 11%. These dynamics follow the same trends as at the end of the 17th century, unlike the second half of the 18th century when the periods of fewer abandonments coincided with the lowest number of baptisms.

The post Evolution of the volume of foundlings and legitimacy in Antequera, Malaga, between 1701 and 1750 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the volume of foundlings and legitimacy in Antequera, Malaga, between 1751 and 1803

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The author reflects in the resource the evolution of foundlings throughout the second half of the 18th century. In these 50 years, the number of total baptisms showed a decreasing trend compared to the first half of the century, although the rate of foundlings fell to an annual average of 51. It was in this period at the end of the Ancien Régime when the trends of previous decades were reversed. From the 17th century onwards, it could be seen that the rates of foundlings were inversely related to the number of baptised children; from this time onwards, lower birth rates coincided with a low level of abandonments. Thus, in 1751, the year with the lowest baptismal registers, the number of foundlings was 7%, in contrast with other years of higher birth rates (in 1788 the abandonment rate was 10% and in 1802 it was 8%).

The post Evolution of the volume of foundlings and legitimacy in Antequera, Malaga, between 1751 and 1803 first appeared on History Lab.

Choleric Mortality in Andalusia, 1833-35

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:41 +0000

The first Asian cholera pandemic entered the Iberian Peninsula in 1833 via Portugal. In Andalusia, cholera persisted for 16 months, between August 1833 and January 1835. The traditional account of the epidemic, which limited the presence of cholera to western Andalusia in 1833, blamed the exacerbation in the summer of 1834 on the march of an army corps from Portugal. The epidemic spread during the autumn of 1833 from the western provinces to the eastern provinces by means of maritime traffic. The prolonged presence of the disease occurred in the midst of a complicated political situation: the reform of the absolutist regime after the death of Ferdinand VII and the beginning of the first Carlist war. In Andalusia, the first barriers – sea and land – were applied between 18 and 24 August 1831 in response to the news that Gibraltar was suffering from a suspicious disease, leading to the closure of the border with the Portuguese country in February 1833. The upsurge of the pandemic led to the second “cordon sanitaire” formed by troops, until it was lifted in August. Preventive policy, however, moved away from quarantines and cordons to focus on urban sanitation measures and aid for the sick. The majority of the series of sick and dead cases, with modifications, meet the typical conditions of Holomantic outbreaks: a rapid rise in the number of cases, a more prolonged maintenance of an uneven pattern, and a somewhat slower decline. The persistence of the disease in parts of eastern Andalusia during the winter and spring of 1834 gave the presentation of this choleric epidemic its peculiar west-east-west development. In western points, such as Cadiz and Seville, the epidemic occurred on two occasions, but sufficiently separated in time and with no evidence of this insidious interregnum.

The post Choleric Mortality in Andalusia, 1833-35 first appeared on History Lab.

Andalusian heritage privatised between 1750 and 1852

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000

When analysing the process of appropriation and privatisation of Andalusian lands – centred in this case on Antequera, Archidona and Malaga – attention must be paid to the different ways in which public lands were alienated, such as the Carolinian distributions, usurpations, the fragmentation of boundaries and finally the liberal disentailments.
The documentation records the highest proportion of usurpations during the first half of the 19th century, especially during the War of Independence and the Liberal Triennium. The method followed by the usurpers was to extend private plots with some municipal lands -under an average of 3.7 hectares per plot-. Among the causes of this land-grabbing fever may have been the demographic increase and the deficit in cereal production, which made it impossible for the most disadvantaged social groups to have access to foodstuffs.
In addition to encroachment, the neighbours adjacent to each area caused the deforestation of many areas due to the felling of trees and the introduction of livestock in these hitherto forbidden places, leading to a drastic reduction in the communal area to the benefit of privatised agricultural uses. The resource shows the process of alienation of territorial patrimony through five distinct phases, with the one corresponding to 1835-1852 as the maximum exponent of the trends that had been observed almost a century earlier.

The post Andalusian heritage privatised between 1750 and 1852 first appeared on History Lab.