Propiedad de la tierra - History Lab

Distribution of land ownership in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753). Cultivated land.

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

In mountain areas such as the Sierra de Alcaraz, land ownership was conditioned by the orography of the territory. In 1753, 28.3% of the land in this mountain range was under cultivation. Of this figure, almost 50% of the cultivation belonged to only 2% of the owners. Likewise, almost half of the total landowners owned only 2% of the arable land. The marked imbalance of ownership translated into different economic benefits: the concentration of land in a few hands meant that 17% of landowners owned more than 1,000 reals of gross produce, a figure that rose to more than 40,000 for the few individuals who owned the most; again, conversely, more than 70% of landowners owned less than 500 reals of produce. The rest of the uncultivated land, 71.7%, could belong to the Council, which was also controlled by the local elites. Livestock farming, like agriculture, showed the same tendency towards concentration in the hands of a few individuals. The survival and future of the less well-off depended on the leasing of land, either for cultivation or as pasture for livestock. These data are but one concrete example of the inequalities that existed in the Ancien Régime and which were perpetuated throughout southern Spain.

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The post Distribution of land ownership in the Sierra de Alcaraz (1753). Cultivated land. first appeared on History Lab.

Income from the Cáceres estate of Don Francisco de Ribera Ovando between 1624 and 1642

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

Using the example of Don Francisco de Ribera Ovando, it is possible to reconstruct the way in which a noble estate in Cáceres was administered in the first half of the 17th century, both in terms of the assets it owned and the amount of income it generated.
As with other members of this social group, land ownership was the main source of income, to which could be added the exploitation of the land if it was exploited directly or leased for this purpose. The second source of income came from seed land, which was exploited by means of leases to different farmers in exchange for an amount of between two and three reales per bushel, in addition to land and pasture land. In addition, thanks to the possession and exploitation of their lands, they received large amounts in kind, such as wheat, barley and rye. Finally, the third major source of income was olive groves and oil mills, which accounted for 17.7% of the total.

The post Income from the Cáceres estate of Don Francisco de Ribera Ovando between 1624 and 1642 first appeared on History Lab.

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.

The post Distribution of land ownership among households in the mid-18th century first appeared on History Lab.