Agrarian Change & Industrial Revolution in 19th Century Spain
1. Agrarian Change in 19th Century Spain
The Disentailment Process and Agrarian Changes
Unlike other European nations, 19th-century Spain experienced insufficient agrarian change to promote industrial development. Liberal land reforms aimed to establish a legal framework for economic development under liberal capitalism. Key measures included abolishing feudal lordships, freeing agricultural property from mayorazgos (entailment), and confiscating and selling church and municipal lands.
While the abolition of feudal lordships didn’t result in the nobility losing agricultural property, it did change ownership. Peasants, though freed from servitude, became tenants or employees without improved living conditions.
Land confiscations didn’t alter land ownership structure, as the bourgeoisie and nobility bought the land, perpetuating large estates. They invested heavily in production, prioritizing risk aversion over efficient crops. Unlike English and French landowners, Spanish landowners were largely absentee, with a focus on maximizing profits.
Large estates in southern Spain led to insufficient labor and social unrest due to the peasants’ miserable living conditions. Smallholdings in the north resulted in consumption and emigration. This issue remained unresolved until the Second Republic. Technological backwardness, with limited machinery and fertilizers, further compounded the problem.
Production grew, allowing moderate population growth, primarily due to land reclamation and cultivation expansion, not improved techniques. Cereal crops dominated (80% of cultivated land) for the domestic market, while vines, olives, and citrus fruits served as cash crops.
Underdeveloped agriculture hindered industrial development due to the rural population’s low purchasing power and the lack of capital for industrial investment. Spanish agriculture weathered the grain crisis (due to competition from new countries) and the wine crisis (due to phylloxera). Production increased through technical progress (fertilizers, mechanization, irrigation), reducing fallow land and promoting specialty crops. Vines, olives, citrus, vegetables, and fruits remained the most dynamic export crops.
2. Spain’s Incorporation into the Industrial Revolution
Peculiarities of Industrialization in Spain
Spain’s industrialization in the 19th century was belated and incomplete. By the early 20th century, most of the peninsula remained predominantly rural, with only Catalonia and the Basque Country undergoing industrialization.
Several factors limited Spain’s industrialization: agricultural backwardness, low purchasing power, scarcity of energy and raw materials, substantial public debt, peripheral location in Europe (leading to higher transport costs), and political instability.
Industrialization began in Catalonia with cotton textiles, incorporating early spinning machines. Progressive liberal policies, such as abolishing guilds, and capital repatriation after colonial independence fueled the rise of the Catalan textile industry, which installed the first steam engines. Production served the domestic market but remained small compared to the rest of Europe.
The steel sector developed alongside textiles. Steel production required coal and iron, leading to mining expansion, particularly in Asturias and the Basque Country. Spanish coal was of poor quality and required customs protection. Iron enabled a major steel industry in the Basque Country, centered in Vizcaya, with its iron mines and forging tradition. Vizcaya relied on imported Welsh coal, which was cheaper and higher quality than Asturian coal.
By the early 20th century, elements of the Second Industrial Revolution (electricity, oil, new industries, telegraph) reached Spain. Catalonia and the Basque Country diversified production with new industries. Capital accumulation led to a major banking sector in Vizcaya, which maintained dominance despite industrialization spreading elsewhere. Madrid became the third industrial region due to its capital status and population growth. Other industrial areas included the Cantabrian coast (steel and derivatives) and Valencia (footwear, wood, chemicals).
Industrial development created regional imbalances, hindering a national integrated market. State protectionist tariffs (for Castilian cereals, Catalan textiles, Asturian coal, and Biscayan iron), along with monopolies, resulted in uncompetitive firms.
The loss of the last colonies in 1898, while impacting markets, allowed capital repatriation, which was invested in industry and banking. World War I boosted exports, accelerating industrialization and economic and social changes.
3. Modernization of Infrastructure: The Impact of the Railway
Railways revolutionized transport with increased speed, capacity, and reduced costs. The first line was Barcelona-Mataró, but the national network’s construction was driven later by the Railways Act and the Restoration Biennium. The state subsidized construction, but French capital financed it.
The network design, centered on Madrid, hindered communication between major industrial centers. The wider gauge than Europe disrupted European connections. While intended to prevent invasion, it maximized wagon capacity.
Railway construction boosted Spanish industrialization, albeit with imported French equipment. While the railway’s potential was limited, it facilitated market integration and aided the formation of a still sparse market.