19th Century Spain: Society and Economy
**Economy and Society in 19th Century Spain**
**A. Society in the 19th Century: From Estates to Classes**
**Demographic Trends**
The Spanish population increased over the period despite high mortality rates. This trend can be explained by the decline in mortality and the maintenance of a high birth rate.
Most of the population remained rural. Urban growth was limited, and the agricultural crisis of the century sparked overseas emigration.
**Social Evolution**
The main feature of this period is the gradual disappearance of an estate-based society and its replacement by a class society based on property rights and equality before the law. This allowed for more social and military mobility. It shaped a new social group for the gentry, owners of large estates, and senior officials of state and the army.
The nobility lost their privileges of “blood” but not their property. They merged with the gentry to form the upper classes.
Below them, a middle class emerged (smallholder rural and urban). This is the petty bourgeoisie, differentiated from manual workers by their lifestyle and customs.
The peasant population was the majority: landlords, tenants, and landless wage earners who made up more than half the rural population.
Tenants paid rent to cultivate others’ lands. Wage laborers were dependent, had seasonal jobs, and very harsh living conditions. Tenants and farm laborers were part of an underclass.
The rest of the lower classes were made up of city workers: factory workers, railroad workers, miners, and construction workers, in addition to those in administration, trade, etc.
All workers shared problems of job insecurity, lack of insurance, and inferior positions in labor relations with the boss. Wages were low, especially for women and children. Social conditions were harsh (unhealthy neighborhoods and homes, without minimal conditions). All this led to certain customs and harmful lifestyles.
**B. Economic Development**
**Agricultural Changes**
Agriculture went through a reform based on the abolition of feudal tenure. With this, agriculture was liberalized, allowing land to move freely in the market, and removed the brakes that prevented the development of a market-oriented capitalist agriculture.
The great economic transformation of this period was the process of secularization.
- Overall effects of the confiscations:
Mendizábal and Madoz changed the situation of the Spanish countryside. The technical backwardness and unequal distribution of land ownership continued to be problems for society and the Spanish economy.
Land reform did not create a rural middle class and had very negative effects for farmers. It influenced the increase in cultivated area, without improving productivity. Besides, the capital generated was used to retire part of the huge government debt, not to help industrialization.
- Other features of Spanish agriculture:
Decline in sheep farming and pasture, little progress in techniques, and advances in regional specialization. Oil, wine, and citrus were the most exported products.
Due to the revolution in transport, agricultural products became cheaper, leading to protectionism in Europe.
**The Industrialization Process**
Spain saw a revolution that had begun in Britain and spread to other parts of the continent, just hitting Catalonia and the Basque Country.
Several factors account for this delay:
- Shortage of coal and raw materials
- Technological backwardness and dependence on foreign capital
- Lack of articulation of an internal market due to communication difficulties and low purchasing power
- Political factors such as the loss of the colonial market, the ravages of the War of Independence, and political instability
Catalonia became the Spanish industrial region *par excellence*, focusing on cotton, while metallurgy and chemistry began to develop at the end of the century, thanks to a protectionist policy. The steel industry was established near coal mines or iron, but ended up being in the Basque Country.
**Mineral Resources and Energy Sources**
Spanish resources were: iron in Malaga and Vizcaya, coal in Asturias, zinc, copper in Huelva, and lead in Cartagena.
With the Mining Act of 1868, an authentic disentailment of the subsoil occurred, opening it up to foreign investment. Iron was a great promoter of Basque industrialization. Coal also promoted Asturian industrial development, but it had problems with profitability and quality, and was highly protected by tariffs.
**Transport and Communications**
The expansion of railway lines was a key factor in modernization. Spain was late to adopt the new means of transport, and the first line was built between Barcelona and Mataró in 1848. Following the enactment of the Railways Act in 1855, there was a real boom in railroads. The problems were a network centered in Madrid, and little planning. The law gave many benefits, but then many lines were ruined during their operation. Steamships also improved in the second half of the century. In contrast, road transport continued with its inefficiencies.
**Foreign Trade and Finance**
Spain specialized in agro-mineral export products with low added value and imported mostly manufactured products. Because of this, and because state spending increased due to the vagaries of domestic and foreign policy, the trade deficit and the state deficit were chronic.
Trade policy was largely protectionist. Tariff laws favored the interests of the Catalan textile industry and grain growers. The Restoration meant a return to protectionism in the tariff law of 1875.
In the financial field, this period is characterized by difficulties in the State Treasury, which was burdened by public debt. During this period, some landmark decisions were taken:
- In 1856, the Bank of Spain was created, replacing the Spanish Bank. But the 1856 Act encouraged private banks (Banco Santander).
- In October 1868, the peseta was adopted as the new unit of the monetary system.