T22 Population, Economy, and Culture in the Canary Islands
T22 Population and Society
Most T22 Pobladors: Galician, Castilian, Andalusians, Aragonese, etc. Population: XVI: + 38,000 inhabitants, Tenerife (TF) 20,000. 1605: 41,000 inhabitants. 1688: 105,075 inhabitants, 70% in western islands, 30,000 in eastern islands. Western population increased due to the wine boom, while eastern population decreased due to the sugar cane crisis, pirate attacks, epidemics, and emigration to TF and La Palma (Lpal). 1802: 194,516 inhabitants. Eastern population increased due to the American wine crisis.
Nobility and Clergy
Nobility: Possessed territories since the 16th century due to sugar exports, luxury goods, Waqf, and political and military control. The main populations were in the Islands (La Laguna, Orotava). Endogamous groups and foreign bourgeoisie. Clergy: Abundant. In the 16th and 17th centuries, nobles and the bourgeoisie sponsored convents in La Laguna, Pal, Orotava, Telde, Garachico, Santa Cruz de La Palma (S/C Palm).
Third Estate
Third Estate: Different classes but paid taxes and crafts. Excluded from merit: elected politicians, administration, militia leadership. Included: Bourgeoisie: Mostly foreigners involved in manufacturing, productivity, and sugar and wine exports. Peasants: +80% sharecroppers or laborers with uncertainty due to harvests, hunger, and epidemics. Artisans: Reduced in number: coopers, blacksmiths, and carpenters in urban centers. Marginal Population: Butchers, beggars, depending on the economy. Slaves: Many, agricultural or domestic, from Berber Africa, furtive from Lanzarote, and black slaves on sugar plantations in TF, Gran Canaria (GC), and Lpal.
Trade and Economy
Helmsman: From Madeira. In the 16th century, many in GC, also in TF, Gomera (Gom), and Lp, obtained high sugar and water spending, which made wood products expensive. Wine: Started in the 16th century, increased in the 17th century, exported to Flanders, France, Spain, England, and American colonies. Crisis: 1608 Portuguese wine. Agriculture: Cereals for consumption. In the 16th century, the land base for food was not mediocre. TF and Lp had strong surpluses. Exports: To Europe: Genoa, exchanging for Flemish sugar, textiles, tools, luxuries, and manufactured goods. Casa de Contratación: Controlled trade with America, smuggling wine, vinegar, canned pears, quince, nuts, etc. Imported cocoa, snuff, logwood, and furniture. Royal Regulation: 1718: Trade liberalization. Tribute: American blood condition for 100 tons, 5 members.
Challenges and Conflicts
Distance from the Peninsula: Base for communications with America. Attacks from rival powers: English, French, Dutch, and Turks. Attacks: Piracy: 1520, French pirate François Le Clerc plundered S/C, Lp, and San Sebastián de La Gomera. Strong in Lanzarote. Attacks: XVI: Turks and XVII. Holland: Turquillo, DEVILKIN, Pieter van der Does 1599 in GC, also destroyed S/C, Lp, and San Sebastián. English: John Poole, Cooke, John Hawkins, Drake 1585, Blake 1656, Nelson in S/C 1797. Piracy ended in the first decade of the 19th century.
Institutions and Culture
16th Century: Creation of the Audience, Inquisition Court, and Episcopal Council. Literature: Texts and examples: Death of La Palma Guillén Peraza 1447. Bartolomé Cairasco de Figueroa (1538-1610), first island intellectual, works: Church Militant, Esdrújulea, Jungle, etc. Wild Balboa (drama): Mirror of Patience, Cuba. 18th Century: Cristóbal del Hoyo: Loneliness. José Viera y Clavijo: Botany, poet, historical writing: News story, General History of the Canary Islands. Tomás Iriarte (TF). 16th Century: Alonso de Espinosa, Leonardo Torriani, Fray Juan de Abreu Galindo. 17th Century: Tomás Marín de Cubas, Núñez de la Peña, Fray Andrés Abreu (Inquisition Commissioner). Baroque Art: 17th-century art, mainly in wooden houses, Andalusian and Portuguese manorial and religious silverwork. 18th Century: American influence, aristocratic homes with balconies in La Orotava, 3 floors.
Religious Architecture and Art
Religious Architecture: Small evolution in the 18th century: size of chapels along prestigious homes, wooden roofs, square tiles, rectangular chapels with four-sided roofs. Churches expanded from hermitages to two-sided naves with arches, temples with three naves or Latin crosses. Convents: Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians. 16th Century: Gothic Cathedral of Santa Ana, San Asunción de Sebastia, San Juan de Telde (baptism), Renaissance Asunción in S/C Lp. 17th Century: Santa Catalina Convent Tower (TF), Conception, strong Mexican influence, Our Lady of the Rule, San Telmo (GC). 18th Century: Orotava Conception, San Francisco de Borja (GC), Clares Monastery, temples in Arico, Christ of Tacoronte, Virgin of the Iron Kings, San Miguel Arcángel (La Laguna), Incarnation (S/C Lp). Religious Images: First ones in the 15th Century were imported from Italy, the Peninsula, and America. 16th Century: Started in GC: Cristóbal Hernández, Diego de Landa, Agustín Ruiz. TF: José Rodríguez de Oliva, Fernández Sebastián, Martín Andújar. Lp: Antonio Orbara. Centuries later: José Juan Pérez, Fernando Estévez. Painting: Importation after the conquest. 17th Century: Parish animated pictures of victory, Calvary Chapel in Orotava, Piety, Mercy, Clare Virgin in La Laguna. Cristóbal Fernández Quintana: Tables: Arucas Baptistery, Cathedral of Ani + La Laguna Conception.