Impact of 19th-Century Spanish Land Confiscations
The sale gave a different twist to the population trend and is a basic fact when considering recent history. At the beginning of the 19th century, Spain was plunged into a severe crisis caused by the loss of colonial markets, the worsening financial and economic crisis after the War of Independence, and the demands of the peasants. In this situation, there was no other choice but to make a series of reforms and take a certain attitude to various aspects, which caused the change. Most politicians and economists favored a policy of economic growth driven by increased agricultural production that could move trade and industry. To accomplish this increase, they opted for a series of reforms, among which was the increase of arable land in addition to an intensification of cultivation.
The increased extension of cultivated land included the cultivation of new land and the privatization of a set of properties belonging to religious corporations or political institutions. This transfer of land to private hands was implemented through confiscation. In relation to the reign of Elizabeth II, it consisted of the confiscation by the state of ownership of church property and the municipalities, which by decrees became national assets and were auctioned publicly. The most important were the ones carried out during the regency of Maria Cristina and the reign of Elizabeth II, although not unique.
In 1768 came the Reformation de Olavide, which had a social meaning through which the state sold land belonging to wealthy farmers who could exploit them without subsidies, rent, or owners to be transferred to third parties, and poor peasants who could exploit the land themselves. These sales were made on the condition that the land would never return to the Church. Later, before the Revolutionary War, Godoy took place to secularize and then apply between 1808 and 1823 the confiscation ordered by Joseph Bonaparte and the Cortes of Cadiz. After 15 years of reduction of monasteries, the property of the Inquisition, and the abolition of primogeniture, inter alia, the return of Ferdinand VII returned to normal almost everything because a portion of the property was not returned to its owners. From this moment, you arrive at 2 confiscations that are deemed most important:
The Church Confiscation of Mendizabal
Performed in 1836 during the regency of Maria Cristina, decrees were made that nationalized and sold at public auction religious property with very low prices and could be paid with public debt bonds. This confiscation intended to make the Carlist war, eliminate debt, request new loans, change the structure of the church property, which would then be free and individual, and improve agricultural production by increasing the growth of cultivated areas, productivity, and the creation of a new type of owners who, in addition to washing their face in agriculture, would support the liberal regime. In addition, there was the sale of the clergy, which caused the disappearance of monasteries and that the State would protect the clergy through wage subsidies.
The General Confiscation
Conducted in 1855, it is the most important because it is the longest. This confiscation was so named because it went on sale, as well as military and church property, belonging to the state and municipalities. They started selling twice as many goods as in the de Mendizabal, including use goods and common property, which aggravated the situation of municipalities and farmers. This law continued to reflect the interests of the bourgeoisie and landlords, and their targets were railroad construction, financing costs, and a sales system identical to Mendizabal. Furthermore, the sales system for members of the bourgeoisie, buyers, included a cash payment of 20% and the rest in installments.
Implications of Confiscation
Economic
- A liberal economy based on private property and free markets was implanted.
- The state government debt declined.
- Church property was sold for 5,000 million, military goods for real, and 870 million.
- Consolidating the existing ownership structure and increasing the cultivated area, although there was tremendous deforestation of mountains at a time.
- Agricultural production improved in the places where the owners invested wealth, although there continued specialization and extension of cereal crops.
Social
- It had the intended effects.
- Finally, the goods on sale were bought by owners who saw land as a sign of stability and social status.
- A new class linked to the landed gentry and liberalism appeared.
- The relationship between farmers and owners changed, resulting in a massive increase in laborers and worsening living conditions for the small farmer.
Structure of the Building
- Large estates spread in the south.
- Smallholding was consolidated in the north and northwest.
- 40% of the arable land in Spain was sold, which represented an economic change: fertilizers were introduced, the cultivation of maize and potatoes spread, and the properties were fenced to keep out.
- In short, there was a modernization of agriculture.
Political
- Ties with the Vatican were severed until the signing of the Concordat of 1851, when the moderate state said they were Catholic and undertook to cover the cost of the clergy in exchange for recognizing Church disentailed sales of goods.
Arts and Culture
- Much of Spain’s heritage was missed.
- Famous buildings deteriorated since the new owners were not interested in keeping them.
- However, the State used these buildings for social purposes (hospitals, places of learning, etc.) and even allowed the widening of urban cities.
All the confiscations resulted in the sale of 40% of the arable land and sanitation of part of the Spanish economy. The beneficiaries were mainly the rural and urban bourgeoisie, and to a lesser extent, the farmers who got some leased land to survive.