1. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN SPAIN IN THE 19th CENTURY

2. The 19th century was a period of
deep economic and social changes in
Spain. The Ancien Régime, the
estates, privileges and feudalism
disappeared and social classes and a
capitalist economy developed. But
industrialization arrived later than in
the rest of Europe and at the end of
the 19th century Spain continued to
be a predominantly agrarian
country, agriculture had barely
modernized and many peasants had
a miserable life. Social differences
were bigger in Spain than in other
European countries.
Builders and stockholders of the first commercial
railway line, Barcelona-Mataró, in 1848

3. There was a big increase in population in the 19th century, from 11.5 to 18.5 millions, but less
than in other European countries, because mortality rates didn’t decrease as much as in other
countries. The biggest growth took place in Madrid and the coastal regions.
DEMOGRAPHY

4. Evolution of the population in Spain
in the 19th century
Evolution of the population in Spain throughout
time

5. Most affected regions by the 1885 cholera epidemics
Even if mortality decreased in the 19th century,
there were still some episodes of lethal
epidemics, like the cholera (yellow fever)
epidemics in 1885, which killed 120,000 people
mainly in the Mediterranean regions
Spanish population pyramid in
1900 reflects the population
growth in the base , as a
consequence of the decrease in
mortality rates

6. Population growth, the improvements
introduced in the countryside and the
better job opportunities in cities
encouraged the rural exodus
(emigration of many peasants to cities)
and the beginning of the urbanization
process (concentration of the
population in cities)
However, at the end of the 19th
century 70% of the population were
still peasants and the lives of most of
them were very hard.
Urbanization process

7. The main destinations of emigrants
were Latin America and Algeria. The
regions that lost more population were
the ones that offered more opportunities
to migrate, for example, where there
were companies that sold cheap ship
tickets (Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria…)
Regions with a highest percentage of emigrants (1885- 1930)
The economic crisis at the end of the
century and the lack of job opportunities
obliged many people to migrate to
other countries.
Emigrants embarking at La Coruña harbour

8. Spanish emigrants arriving in Cuba at the
beginning of the 20th century
Around 4 million people emigrated to
other countries between the last decades
of the 19th century and 1930. Most of the
emigrants were peasants

9. AGRICULTURE
In the Ancien Régime most of the land
belonged to the privileged:
-Nobles’ lands were entailed
-the lands of the Church and the
municipalities were mortmain (their
owners were barred from transferring or
selling them).
This meant that land couldn’t be
alienated even if its owners accumulated
debts.
In addition, peasants were obliged to pay
rents to their lords in order to be able to
cultivate the lands. In the 18th century the
enlightened thinkers insisted on the
necessity of putting an end to this
situation.

10. With the liberal revolution, feudalism
was abolished: the seigneurial system
disappeared, the entailed lands were
disentailed and the mortmain properties
were eliminated with confiscations. In
Spain this process developed mainly from
1836 onwards and was present during
almost every progressive government:
-Mendizábal Ecclesiastical confiscations
(1836-1837)
-Madoz Civil Confiscations (1855)
Madoz confiscations official bulletin,
announcing the sale of public properties

11. Several religious institutions (the Inquisition, the Society of Jesus, monasteries and convents
with less than 12 members) were dissolved and their properties were nationalized and sold at
public auction in order to reduce the public deficit and get credit to finance the Carlist War
expenses. The lands sold were bought by those who had money to do it and those who owned
State debt titles: bourgeois, businessmen, rich peasants. Peasants without land couldn’t buy
them. The operation was a good business for the State, because it allowed the reduction of
public deficit and provided them with funds to finance the war (500 million reales in cash and a
reduction of 5,000 million reales in public debt. Half of the State deficit was cancelled)
MENDIZÁBAL ECCLESIASTICAL CONFISCATIONS

12. The properties owned by the State, the clergy,
the municipalities (public properties and
communal lands), military orders, hospitals,
hospices and charity houses were nationalized
and sold at public auction to get funds to reduce
the State deficit and promote public works,
mainly the construction of the railway network.
The main difference with respect to Mendizábal’s
confiscation was that the land had to be paid in
cash, although it could be paid in installments.
The State collected around 5,400 million reales,
¼ of which was destined to pay railway
subsidies. Again, the lands were bought by the
bourgeois. These confiscations seriously
damaged the municipalities, because up to then
they got resources from the rental of the lands,
and the poorest peasants, who completed their
incomes with what they got from the communal
lands. The municipalities had to increase the
taxes to their citizens in order to get resources
and many peasants who had survived working in
the communal lands had to become labourers or
migrate to cities (proletarianization process).
MADOZ CIVIL CONFISCATIONS

13. Around half of the cultivable lands in
Spain were involved in the confiscations’
process.
The lands that had been excluded from the
market up to that moment could be sold
and bought by people who had resources
and were interested in getting profits. But
most of the peasants couldn’t buy land
and became labourers (around 54% of
peasants were labourers in 1860 and there
were provinces, like Cádiz or Seville, with
75% of labourers). Social differences
increased, especially in the South. In this
way, the new landowners could have big
amounts of available workforce to
cultivate their lands and they didn’t invest
in machines to modernize the agrarian
tasks. Although the cultivated land
experienced an important growth,
productivity continued to be low. As most
of the peasants continued to be poor, they
didn’t have enough resources to buy
industrial products and this damaged the
industrial development of the country.

14. Summary of all
the laws related
to the land from
the Cortes of
Cádiz to 1868
Number of rural and urban estates
affected by the confiscations

15. Spanish property structure was
uneven:
-Smallholdings were predominant in
the Northern Sub-Plateau and
Galicia, which made mechanization
difficult. Yield was low.
-Large estates (latifundia) were
predominant in Extremadura,
Andalusia and Castile-La Mancha:
they were worked by labourers with
very low salaries.
- Only in some areas like Valencia,
Catalonia, the Cantabrian corniche
and La Rioja the property structure
was more balanced, although many
peasants were not the owners of the
lands, but tenants.
PROPERTY STRUCTURE

16. The main success of the liberal revolution in the
countryside was the growth of the land
cultivated and the increase of production.
Subsistence crises continued to appear cyclically,
but became less and less frequent.
Main crops:
-Wheat was the main crop in the Central Plateau.
As yield was low, its price was higher than
foreign wheat and producers demanded
protectionist measures (higher tariffs) to protect
their products from foreign competition.
-Potatoes and corn were the main crops in the
North
-vineyards in Catalonia and La Rioja
-olive trees in Andalusia
-citrus fruit and vegetables in Valencia and
Murcia.
Some products, like oranges, wine and olive oil
started being exported, which favoured crop
specialization in certain regions.
Women classifying oranges in a warehouse at the
end of the 19th century
Vintagers from Haro (La Rioja) at the end of the 19th
century

17. In the last third of the 19th century
there was a great crisis in the
countryside, due to competition of
cheaper foreign products (cereals
from America) and the phylloxera
plague in vineyards. Many peasants
lost their jobs and increased the
number of emigrants to other
countries. Cereal producers
demanded a protectionist policy from
the State and formed a united front
with the industrialists. This meant a
change in the tariff policy followed by
the governments.
Expansion of the phylloxera in Andalusia

18. Stockbreeding was also affected after
the abolition of the Mesta privileges
and the expansion of the cultivated
land. The big transhumant sheep herds
reduced and so did pastures. In
contrast, other types of stockbreeding
increased: porcine for meat and equine
and mule stockbreeding increased,
related to the replacement of oxen for
mules in agriculture. Cattle fair in Seville, 19th century
The origin of the Fair of Albacete was a cattle fair.
This picture corresponds to the end 19th century

19. Industrialization was delayed with
respect to the rest of Europe. Only
some regions (Catalonia, Basque
Provinces, Asturias and Madrid…) had
industrialized at the end of the 19th
century. There were some natural
obstacles that delayed industrialization,
like the lack of good quality energy
sources, and other factors:
-the absence of a developed
transportation network
-the politicians lack of interest in the
industrialization of the country
-the free-trade tariffs that allowed the
import of foreign products at lower
prices or the weak internal demand
But once the Ancien Régime
disappeared, industry started
developing.
INDUSTRY
Industrialization in Europe (1870-1914). Spain was
delayed with respect to other countries, but in the
same level as other Mediterranean countries, like
Portugal and Italy

20. As in England, the prohibition of importing calicoes
(printed cotton clothes) stimulated the appearance of
textile industry in Catalonia, where there were many
textile manufactories since the 18th century. Around
1830 self-acting machines (selfactinas) started being
introduced, first in spinning and later in weaving. The
first factories were located near Barcelona’s harbor,
where the coal needed to move the steam engines
arrived. Later, many factories were set up near rivers
(textile colonies), in order to take advantage of
hydraulic power.
TEXTILE INDUSTRY
Calicoes
Textile colonies on the banks of river
LlobregatTextile
factory

21. The weaver (1882)
Cotton industry in Catalonia
Textile factory,
1910
The development of textile industry had to face
some problems due to the lack of energy sources
(bad quality of Asturian coal, with low heating
power, few water courses to produce hydraulic
power), low purchasing power of the population
(most of the population were poor peasants) and
competition of foreign products, which were
cheaper. That’s why Catalan industrialists
demanded a protectionist economic policy.

22. The Spanish subsoil was very rich in minerals, but it wasn’t massively exploited until the 1868 Mining
Law (Ley de Bases de la Minería). Many foreign companies (mainly British and French) received
licenses to exploit the main mines: Riotinto copper (Huelva), Linares and La Carolina (Jaén) lead,
Almadén mercury, Reocín zinc (Cantabria)…, but mainly Asturian coal and Basque iron. The main
problem of Asturian coal was its bad quality and its extraction difficulty. The main advantage of
Basque iron was its great purity, which made it perfect to produce steel and allowed its export to
other European countries (Basque iron was exchanged for Welsh coal).
MINING

23. Asturian miners from Mieres, at the beginning
of the 20th century. Many children worked in the
mines
Iron mine in Biscay at the beginning of the 19th
century
The first Spanish football teams appeared in minig
regions, as a consequence of the influence of the
British workers and managers of the mines: Huelva
Recreation Club (1889), Athletic Club (1898) and Bilbao
Football Club (1900). On this picture, the Athletic Club
roster in 1903, with the first Spanish Cup.Riotinto mine in 1900

24. Iron and steel industry had appeared in Málaga, with the use of charcoal, but was soon replaced by
Asturian industry in the 1830 decade.
In the 1870s the exchange of Basque iron for Welsh coal allowed the creation of an important
centre of iron and steel industry in Biscay. Other industries appeared in that area: metalworking
industries, machinery, mechanical construction, shipyards…
IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY
La Constancia blast furnace in Málaga,
founded in 1833 Baracaldo (Bilbao), El Carmen Factory, from the
Sociedad de Altos Hornos de Hierro y Acero, end of the
19th century

25. Cast iron production in Spain between 1861 and
1913. Biscay iron and Steel industry took the lead
in the 1880s decade due to their Access to Welsh
coal.
Iron and Steel industry in 1868

26. Construction of railway could have contributed to the development of iron and steel industry, but
when the railway network started being built, Spanish iron and steel industry was very small and
couldn’t satisfy the demand for big amounts of steel.
-The first railway lines in Spain were Barcelona-Mataró (1848) and Madrid- Aranjuez (1850).
-In 1855 the government decided to issue the Railway Law, allowing the import of the necessary
materials tariff-free. In this way, many lines were built in a short period of time, but subsidies
converted the construction of railway into a speculative business and many lines were not
profitable when they started working. Radial network prioritized connections with Madrid, letting
many Spanish regions isolated and the wider rail gauge complicated the communications with the
rest of Europe.
However, the railway facilitated the
exchange for people and goods. The
integration of the national market was
achieved in the 1870s decade, when the big
railway lines got connected and the
construction of roads started.

27. The 2nd Industrial Revolution also arrived
late in Spain, in the last third of the 19th
century:
-new energy sources (electricity and oil)
-new industries developed: metalworking
industry in Seville, Barcelona, Basque
Provinces, Galicia, chemical industry, car
industry (Hispano- Suiza was the first
Spanish car industry, founded in Barcelona
in 1904)
-Madrid became the third industrial region,
because many industries settled down near
the capital city.
Around 1930 the most industrialized
regions were Catalonia, the Basque
Provinces and Madrid and there was a big
imbalance between these regions (the most
populated and where more wealth
concentrated) and the rest of the country.
Hispano-Suiza Factory in 1906
Main industrial regions at the beginning of the 20th century

28. SOCIETY: FROM ESTATES TO CLASSES
During the 19th century the estates disappeared and social classes appeared, but the low
industrial development and the predominance of agriculture conditioned the social structure of
the country: the Spanish bourgeoisie was weak with respect to other countries and nobility
continued to be influential, also more than in the rest of Europe
LOWER CLASS
The new social groups were:
−UPPER CLASS: formed by the big nobility
landowners (they lost their privileges, but
consolidated the property of the lands and
continued to be very influential) and the high
bourgeoisie (bankers, industrialists…Many of them
bought land from the confiscations and became also
landowners).
−MIDDLE CLASS: the middle bourgeoisie was scarce:
small businessmen, merchants, liberal professions,
civil servants…
−LOWER CLASS: formed by the proletariat
(industrial workers. They were not numerous, due to
the late industrialization, and were concentrated in
some regions, like Catalonia, the Basque Provinces,
Asturias and the bigger cities) and peasants (most of
the Spanish population, around 70% at the end of
the 19th century, whose life was miserable).
UPPER CLASS
MIDDLE CLASS

29. Compared with other European countries, the number of
peasants in Spain continued to be very high at the end of
the 19th century.

30. Map of the literate people in Spain at the end of the 19th century
EDUCATION
At the end of the 19th century
alphabetization continued to be very
deficient: only 37%, while in France 70%
of the population had gone to school.
Illiteracy was also very high: 70% of the
population was illiterate (50% in men
and 80% in women) and only 1% of the
population had university studies. The
different education laws of the century
didn’t improve the situation much. With
the Moyano Law, the only free education
was from 6 to 9 years old and only for
those who could prove that they
couldn’t pay it. The rest of the studies
had to be financed by the families who
could afford them (paid education).

31. LABOUR MOVEMENT
The first workers’ protests were related to the destruction of machines (luddism) and took place
in Alcoy (1821) and Barcelona (burning of the Bonaplata Factory in 1835).
In 1840 the Association of Weavers (Asociación de Tejedores de Barcelona), the first mutual
benefit society was created in Barcelona. This city was also the theater of the first general strike
in 1855.
As workers’ awareness (class consciousness) grew up, protests increased, especially when the
1860s crisis hardened the peasants and workers’ lives.
Burning of the Bonaplata Factory in
Barcelona, 1835
Asociación de Tejedores de
Barcelona, first mutual
benefit society created in
Spain
4th July 1855 newspaper from
Barcelona, with the chronicle of
the 1st general strike (2nd-11th
July)

32. The new legislation of the Sexenio allowed the
arrival of propagandists of the 1st International
and the spread of the ideas of the labour
movement. Paul Lafargue, Marx’s son–in-law,
propagandized the ideas of scientific socialism or
Marxism, and Giuseppe Fanelli spread the ideas
of anarchism. In 1870 the first Workers’
Congress took place in Barcelona and the
Spanish Federation of the 1st International was
created (Federación de la Región Española de la
AIT, FRE-AIT).
First Workers’ Congress in Barcelona, 1870
Giuseppe Fanelli (1) with the initial group of
members of the International in Madrid, 1869
Emblem of the FRE-AIT

33. After the Sexenio, all the workers’
associations were forbidden, until the
Law of Associations was passed in
1887.
-Most of the Spanish workers became
anarchists
-A minority of workers were influenced
by Marxism.
In 1890 the celebration of the 1st of
May made the labour movement
visible again.
Call to the demonstration of the 1890
1st of May celebration
Workers’ organizations in
Spain
The 8 hours campaign, according to La Campana de Gràcia,
1890

34. Anarchism attracted mainly Catalonia’s industrial workers and Andalusia’s peasants. In 1881 they
tried to create a national organization, the FTRE (Federación Regional de Trabajadores de la
Región Española), but repression from the government stopped their consolidation and led to its
dissolution in 1888.
ANARCHISM
Workers accused of belonging to the Mano Negra
in Andalusia. Seven of them were executed in 1884.
The Mano Negra was probably a farce of the
government to stop the workers’ organization in
the countryside. Execution of the supposedly involved in
the Mano Negra episode in Jerez

35. - A minority of the anarchists
oriented to violence (propaganda
by the deed), and were involved in
terrorist attacks against politicians,
businessmen, military men (attack
on General Martínez Campos,
assassination of Cánovas de
Castillo, terrorist attack of the Liceu
Theatre in Barcelona…).
- Most of the anarchists preferred
association and focused on
education and the improvement of
their working conditions (anarcho-
syndicalism). This group finally
created the CNT (Confederación
Nacional del Trabajo), an anarchist
union in 1910, which reached 1
million members in the last years of
the 2nd Republic.
Bomb attack at the Liceu
Theatre in Barcelona, 1893
Attack on Martínez Campos,
Barcelona 1893. The terrorist,
Paulino Pallás, was executed
Terrorist attack on the Corpus procession
in Barceloa, attributed to the anarchists,
1896
Anselmo Lorenzo,
considered the father
of anarchism in Spain

36. Marxism extended mainly among Madrid,
the Basque Provinces and Asturias. The
PSOE, a socialist party, was created in 1879
and a socialist trade union, the UGT, in
1888. PSOE started participating in the
elections in 1890, with the approval of the
universal suffrage, but they didn’t get their
first deputy until 1910, when Pablo Iglesias
was elected inside the Republican-Socialist
Conjunction.
MARXISM
Pablo Iglesias
Casa Labra, place where the PSOE was founded