Población - History Lab

Cadastre of the Ensenada

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

Between 1750 and 1754 all the towns in “las Castillas” were subjected to an interrogation consisting of the following 40 questions: Name of the town (question 1); jurisdiction (2); extension and limits (3); types of land (4, 5); trees (6, 7, 8 and 13); measures of surface and capacity used (9, 10); species, quantity and value of fruits (11, 12, 14 and 16); tithes and first fruits (15); mines, salt mines, mills and other “artefacts” (17); livestock (18, 19 and 20); census of population, with neighbours, labourers, solemnly poor (21, 35 and 36), census of clerics (38) and convents (39); houses and other buildings (22); goods belonging to the commons (23), sisas and arbitrios (24), expenses of the commons, such as salaries, festivals, paving, fountains (25), taxes (26 and 27); industrial and commercial activities, with the utility of the goods or services produced: taverns, inns, shops, bakeries, butchers, bridges, boats on rivers, markets and fairs (29), hospitals (30), money changers and merchants (31), shopkeepers, doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, notaries, muleteers etc. (32); masons, stonemasons, masons, stonemasons, blacksmiths, cobblers etc. (33, 34); ships (37); alienated goods (28) and the King’s own revenues (40); the answers to these questions are obtained following a previously regulated process. This panoramic view of the Kingdom is a small part of a larger survey, the so-called Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada, set in motion by Royal Decree of Ferdinand VI on 10 October 1749, as a preliminary step to fiscal reform, replacing the complicated and unjust provincial revenues with a single tax, the so-called Contribution. The Single Tax was never implemented, but it has left an important volume of documentation in our archives, the General Answers are kept in various State Archives. The General Archive of Simancas holds the complete certified copy of the replies of the 13,000 localities of the Crown of Castile. Preservation reasons led to the initiation of the microfilming process. In the 1980s, the 545 books of General Answers kept in Simancas were microfilmed. The frequent consultation of these collections and the need to facilitate access made digitisation advisable, which was carried out by the Document Reproduction Service (SRDAE) from microfilm during 2004 and 2005. The result is 350,000 images of documents with very neat calligraphic handwriting, easy to read and with hardly any abbreviations; very few pages have legibility problems, such as faded inks or ink transfer from the back. These images are now available on this page.

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Evolution of the population by socio-racial groups in Cuba, 1774-1827

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

The post Evolution of the population by socio-racial groups in Cuba, 1774-1827 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the population by socio-racial groups in Matanzas (Cuba), 1774-1827

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

At the end of the 18th century, the island of Cuba underwent a series of institutional transformations that resulted in a reformulation of the colonial pact between the local elites and the crown. This series of changes affected the structure of property ownership, agricultural production and the growth and composition of the population, making the island the world’s leading colonial sugar producer. Until the 17th century, the weight of the sugar economy in the province was minimal. The jurisdiction had five mills in 1778 and eight in 1792, producing 1.5% of the island’s total sugar. The momentum of the slave plantation system in the region was such that in 1827 there were 111 enclaves dedicated to this type of production in Matanzas, which contributed 25% of the island’s total production. One of the indicators of this process of change was the availability of labour linked to the success of the sugar model, where slaves and free blacks predominated. In the case of Matanzas, the general trend of growth was led by free blacks and slaves in the first period, with a more timid increase among whites. From 1792 onwards, the rate of growth was set by the slave population. With regard to Cuba, it should be noted that growth never stagnated at any time, and that the intensity was more pronounced, especially at the end of the period. The dynamism is reflected in the growth of the population of Matanzas as a proportion of the island’s population, from 2% in 1774 to 7% in 1827. Slaves not only outnumbered the white population, but also accounted for 9% of the total number of slaves in Cuba in 1827. In general terms, Matanzas underwent much more intense demographic transformations than the rest of the island during the 18th century, particularly among the slave population.

The post Evolution of the population by socio-racial groups in Matanzas (Cuba), 1774-1827 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the births, deaths and natural growth of the black population of Matanzas (1755-1810)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

The post Evolution of the births, deaths and natural growth of the black population of Matanzas (1755-1810) first appeared on History Lab.

Annual series of immigration entries of African slaves in Matanzas, 1755-1810

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

At the end of the seventeenth century, the island of Cuba underwent a series of institutional transformations that resulted in a reformulation of the colonial pact between the local elites and the crown. This series of changes affected the structure of property ownership, agricultural production and the growth and composition of the population, making the island the world’s leading colonial sugar producer. Until the 17th century, the weight of the sugar economy in the province was minimal. The jurisdiction had five mills in 1778 and eight in 1792, producing 1.5% of the island’s total sugar. The migration calculation, through the registration data, shows a very low immigration of slaves. The reasons for this are that the expansion of the agricultural frontier was from Havana towards Matanzas, which means that, if there was immigration, it should have been in this direction, and that the mobility of the slave depended on his owner, so it is expected that the slave population remained in Matanzas with their masters at the time of the sugar expansion. The flow of slave imports in the second half of the 18th century increased tenfold and was marked by strong oscillations. The largest inflows corresponded to an international context of internal transformations that made it possible to increase the black labour force through the slave trade in three periods. In the first period (1775-1785), slave imports seemed to be more sporadic and dependent on external events, such as the British invasion of 1762 and the American War of Independence. During the second period (1785-1795), there was a change in the trend towards a regular increase in forced immigration, and the effect of the French Revolution in Saint Domingue in 1791 led to a smaller influx of slaves. The growth of the curve coincided with medium-term internal transformations, such as the liberation of the slave trade (1789-1798), the application of duties favourable to production, alcabalas or tithes on sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton and the stimulation of the sugar trade, such as the increase in tariffs for free trade between Spain and the Indies. The last period, from 1795-1810, saw a stabilisation of the massive influx of slaves.

The post Annual series of immigration entries of African slaves in Matanzas, 1755-1810 first appeared on History Lab.

Evolution of the rate of rent for the fortunes of Dehesa de La Laguna (1712-1769).

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

The generalisation of long-term leases in the 17th century led to a relaxation of the pressure on the Cabildo’s tenants of the dehesa. The behaviour of agrarian rent in the middle of the century shows a moderate fall in the rate in the last two leases, which is not in line with the national upward trend from 1754-1774. The lease system inaugurated in 1712 maintained long leases fixed in six-year periods, but spurred strong competition in the auctions. For the 18th century we do not have the sown area because we do not know the number of suertes dedicated to private pastures: the calculations are based on cultivated area. Despite the discrepancy in the indicators, the income per unit of sown area did not reach the extreme values that occurred in the middle of the 16th century, despite the agricultural improvement and the increase in the agricultural product. The Cabildo managed to increase its gross income compared to the most lucrative auctions of the 16th century, which was really important for the corporation. In the mid-16th century, the income from the dehesa amounted to 4,000 bushels of wheat, and the auctions of 1712-1769 were between 5,315 and 6,782 bushels, without taking into account the exaggerated decline of the 1728 auction.

The post Evolution of the rate of rent for the fortunes of Dehesa de La Laguna (1712-1769). first appeared on History Lab.

Neighbours of Cuenca 1561-1752

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

The population of Cuenca in 1561 reached 17,000 inhabitants compared to Toledo’s population of around 30,000. If for the whole of Castile a population decrease of 36-42% of the inhabitants of Cuenca is estimated, comparing the data of 1591 and 1712, in the case of Cuenca the decrease is particularly steep, losing 83.6% of its population. At the end of the 17th century it experienced a small demographic recovery, participating in the general increase in Castile as a whole, reaching the levels of 1591, which was cut short by the War of the Spanish Succession. As for the province, a decline of 51% was calculated, as in Valladolid and Extremadura. These reductions translated into a population decline in the region between 1591-1646 of 35%, while in the city of Cuenca itself it reached 61.5%, falling from 3,120 at the end of the 16th century to just 1,200 in 1644. The decline during the first half of the 16th century was largely due to deindustrialisation due to the decline of the textile industry, which brought with it a process of deurbanisation at the end of the century. As part of the model of inland Spain, Cuenca participated in a demographic resurgence during the 17th century, as did Guadalajara, where the population grew modestly throughout the 17th century, with an increase in baptisms of 17.7%, without recovering the highs of the 16th century until 1790.

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Estimation of the number of inhabitants of Madrid (1590-1850)

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

The move of the Court of Philip II to Madrid in the spring of 1561 was the contextual factor that boosted the population of the Manzanares region. The results obtained indicate that at the end of the 16th century the city had between 85,000 and 95,000 inhabitants, a population comparable to that of European cities such as Florence, Palermo, Antwerp, Bologna and Lisbon. With the move of the Court to Valladolid under Philip III between 1601-1606, González Dávila warned of excessive expense and damage to both Castillas. Madrid suffered great need with the lack of people (according to Cabrera de Córdoba), as the lack of people and houses fell by the day: the number of baptisms fell by a third. With the return of the Court in 1606, uninterrupted growth began until 1630, when the city surpassed 130,000 inhabitants. The bad harvests of 1629-30 had a major effect on the city’s supplies and the shortages led to a mortality crisis, after which the number of inhabitants seemed to fall and stagnated at 125,000 until 1670. However, irregularities in the supply of wheat and flour in 1698-99 provoked a riot against the Count of Oropesa. The crisis at the beginning of the 18th century, together with the problems of the War of Succession, caused a mortality rate where the population fell to 109,000 between 1710-1714, recovering to 1630 levels between 1730-39. From then on, a more accelerated growth began, favoured by the relative decrease in deaths. The poor harvests at the end of the 18th century triggered a major subsistence crisis that combined transport difficulties and social revolts in protest against the hoarding of grain for the Court. The demographic recovery began in 1806, but was interrupted by the War of Independence which, from 1814 onwards, saw the city grow to 201,000 inhabitants in 1825.

The post Estimation of the number of inhabitants of Madrid (1590-1850) first appeared on History Lab.

Population distribution in Europe (1500-1750)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

During the European Modern Age, the distribution of population among the different countries of the continent diverged according to their size, population characteristics, demography and socio-economic system. In general terms, the urban world grew quantitatively between 1500 and 1750 in most Western countries, although with varying intensity. England was the most developed in this respect; a development, however, that was already present in some Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Italy, and others in the north, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. Despite urban growth, the great evolution that the author identifies in relation to population is the exponential development of the non-agricultural rural world. In fact, if in 1500 there were 152 rural nuclei of this type, in 1750 they rose to 236, in contrast to the decrease in the agricultural sphere, from 612 in 1500 to 505 in the middle of the 18th century. The transformation of the rural world was, once again, uneven across the continent. While England, Germany, France, Austria/Hungary and Poland were the communities that most experienced this process, Italy and Spain experienced it with less incidence. In short, the distribution of population in modern Europe meant that the countries where the agricultural revolution developed the earliest grew at the quantitative levels that were already present in the Mediterranean areas.

The post Population distribution in Europe (1500-1750) first appeared on History Lab.

Population trends in Northern Spain (1600-1857)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

The territory included in the conceptualisation of northern Spain is, for the author, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country and Navarre; some 63,500 km2 which in the mid-19th century was home to almost 22% of the population of peninsular Spain. The resource deals with the demographic evolution of this territory between 1600 and 1857. Divided into maritime and inland areas, the population in the maritime north (Pontevedra, La Coruña, Asturias, Cantabria, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa) was larger in 1600 than the inland territories (Orense, Lugo, Álava and Navarre), with a territory/population size ratio giving a similar density: 20.8 inhabitants per square kilometre in the coastal provinces, and 20.2 inhabitants per square kilometre in the inland provinces, exceeding the Spanish average of 15. The two and a half centuries of demographic evolution meant that the maritime north gained up to 225% more inhabitants, while the interior gained less: 85%. As a result, the coastal density increased to 62.9 inhabitants/km2, 3 times more than in 1600; a much lower figure than the growth of Orense, Lugo, Álava and Navarre, which reached 37.4. In short, the development of the maritime provinces, tripling their population, elevated them to the regions with the highest densities in Spain, while the interior grew slightly below the national average.

The post Population trends in Northern Spain (1600-1857) first appeared on History Lab.