Transformation of Spanish Agriculture and Industry in the 19th Century

Advances in Commercial Agriculture

From the second half of the nineteenth century, commercial agriculture gradually became prominent on the Mediterranean coast, focusing on both domestic and export markets. The cultivation of vines, citrus fruits, rice, and sugar cane was widespread, alongside other products like ECS fruits, olive oil, and esparto grass. Notably, vineyards, a traditional crop, experienced significant expansion due to increased demand for wine derivatives. Between 1850 and 1875, Spain tripled its wine exports to Europe, largely because of the devastating phylloxera plague that ruined French vineyards around 1863. Consequently, Spain became the world's leading wine producer between 1870 and 1880. However, traditional cereal cultivation remained dominant, with substantial exports. The ambition of Spain becoming Europe's granary was thwarted by the end of the Crimean War (1853-1856) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), as Spanish grain prices could not compete with French, German, and British grain.

Industrial Change

In Spain, the industrial revolution was in full effect in Catalonia and the Basque Country, and to a lesser extent in some regions of Andalusia and Valencia.

The Backwardness of Spanish Industry

As some European countries began the second phase of the Industrial Revolution in the late nineteenth century, Spain remained primarily agricultural, except for the steel and textile industries in Catalonia and the Basque Country. This delay is attributed to two main factors: low domestic demand for manufactured products due to the poverty and low purchasing power of the peasant population, and excessive protectionism. Catalan products were more expensive than foreign goods because of the lack of coal, iron, and good coastal ports for easy loading and unloading. Additionally, there was a lack of investment.

Disentailments

Liberal politicians believed that the key to modernizing the Spanish countryside was eliminating remnants of the old regime, particularly the system of entailed estates. One of the main measures was to eradicate the system of "dead hands" property and sell the land to new owners who would modernize the country. The most significant changes in land structure occurred following the disentailments implemented by the governments of 1836 and 1855. These involved the state appropriating most church assets and communal lands, declaring them national property, and selling them to individuals through public auctions.

The First Confiscation (1836)

This occurred during the regency of Maria Cristina (1833-1840) and was inspired by the liberal finance minister Juan Álvarez de Mendizábal (1835-1836). The income generated was used to pay public debt and finance the fight against the Carlist army.

The Second Confiscation (1855)

This was carried out during the Bienio Progresista by Finance Minister Pascual Madoz and involved selling all arable land belonging to cities, the state, and military orders. The consequences were varied. Firstly, there was a change in ownership, with 40% of the land changing hands and three-fifths of church properties being sold. The buyers were mostly aristocrats, landowners, secular clergy, merchants, and industrialists who saw land as a source of prestige and economic stability. A second consequence was the instability and insecurity of many farmers who lost their rights to communal land use, leading to the proletarianization of large sectors of the peasantry. By 1860, half of Spanish workers were field laborers. Finally, although a new class of asset owners and rural entrepreneurs did not emerge as Mendizábal and Madoz had hoped, the sales led to a significant expansion of cultivated land devoted to cereals. Furthermore, fertilizers such as guano from Peru or Chilean nitrate were introduced, resulting in increased productivity.