Spain’s 19th Century: Economy, Society, and Industry
Economic Transformations and Social Changes in 19th-Century Spain
The 19th century in Spain was marked by significant economic and social transformations. A key aspect of this period was the disentailments. Agriculture underwent a major reform with the abolition of the feudal system, primogeniture, and large-scale confiscations under Madoz and Mendizabal. These measures aimed to liberalize agriculture, allowing land to move freely in the market and removing obstacles to capitalist development. Most of the land ended up in the hands of individual owners.
Mendizabal’s and Madoz’s Disentailments
The great economic transformation of this period was the process of confiscation of church property, initiated by Mendizabal in 1835 and completed by Pascual Madoz during the progressive biennium with the disentailment of municipal properties.
Mendizabal’s disentailment involved the expropriation and nationalization of goods and ecclesiastical lands, and the suppression of religious orders. These properties were then sold at public auction. This had three main objectives:
- Financial: To generate income to pay the public debt and fund the Carlist War.
- Political: To expand the social base of liberalism (the regular clergy largely supported the Carlists).
- Social: To create an agrarian middle class of peasant proprietors.
The results were not as positive as expected:
- The serious problem of public debt was not solved.
- While liberalism gained adherents, most of the disentailed goods were purchased by wealthy urban nobles and *bourgeois*, not poor farmers.
- The confiscation did not mitigate social inequality.
The results favored the nobility, explaining the support for liberalism and the many peasants who became illiberal. The Church’s economic power was dismantled through expropriation, and the state began providing financial subsidies to the clergy.
The Second Great Confiscation (1855)
The second great confiscation was enacted through a law by Pascual Madoz in 1855, affecting municipal lands. The results included:
- Ruin for the municipalities.
- Failure to solve the public debt problem.
- Harm to the poorest neighbors.
The confiscations of Mendizabal and Madoz radically changed the Spanish countryside, affecting a fifth of the entire land area.
Industrialization and Infrastructure Modernization
The Industrial Revolution only significantly impacted Catalonia and the Basque Country. Factors explaining the delay in other regions included:
- Shortage of coal and raw materials.
- Technological backwardness and dependence on foreign capital.
- Lack of articulation of an internal market.
- Political factors such as the loss of colonial markets, damage from the War of Independence, and political instability.
The expansion of railways was a key element of modernization. Spain was late to adopt this new means of transport. The General Railway Law of 1855 spurred a railway boom. The general trade policy was protectionist, except for a brief attempt at liberalization by Figuerola in 1869 during the six-year democratic period.
Financial Developments
This period was characterized by the difficulties of the public treasury, burdened by debt:
- The Bank of Spain was created in 1856.
- The peseta was adopted as the new currency in 1868.
Population Growth and Social Change in the Labor Movement
The population increased due to a decrease in mortality and the maintenance of a high birth rate. Most of the population remained rural. Social change involved the gradual disappearance of the estate system and its succession by a class society based on wealth and property, with legal equality. This allowed for greater social mobility.
The new dominant social group was the upper *bourgeoisie*, the landowning oligarchy, and high-ranking state and military officials. Below them were the less numerous urban middle classes. The majority of the population was rural and quite heterogeneous, including a small group of industrial workers.