Los colonos de Navas de Tolosa en Sierra Morena: los primeros pasos de una nueva población agrícola en el siglo XVIII

Abstract

In 1767 the foundation of the Nuevas Poblaciones begins, a project of the Spanish monarchy that transformed several depopulated areas of Sierra Morena and lower Andalusia into agricultural colonies under the protection of the charter known as the Fuero de las Nuevas Poblaciones. The project was based on foreigners and Spaniards, proposing a different social and economic organization than the rest of the Hispanic Monarchy until 1835. The study of the colonists of the Navas de Tolosa parishioners has helped us understand how the process of creation and development of these colonies was, transforming the wastelands of Sierra Morena into farmland. Through archival documentation and historical cartography combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) we have reconstructed the grid of farmlands from 1770, 1774 and 1781, analyzing the nationality of the settlers, the situation of their land, the concentration and dispersion of the plots or the presence of the woman as owner.