The Settlers of Navas de Tolosa in Sierra Morena: First Steps of a New Agricultural Population in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

Iish lowern 1767 monarchy Andalusiathe foundation that into transformed agriculturalof the Nuevas several coloniesPoblaciones depopulated underbegins,the areas protection of a project Sierra of Morena ofthethecharterSpan- and 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 deTolosa 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.