Repopulation map

ANALYSIS OF A HISTORICAL MAP.

1.      Classification

Type of map: This is an evolution and political map that reflects the four methods which were used to control the land conquered and establish the political, economic and social structures of the Christian kingdoms during the “repopulation” process.

Title: The “repopulation” process of the Christian kingdoms.

Geographic space represented: On the map we can see the Iberian Peninsula.

Chronological period: since the 8^th century and the 13^th century on the Reconquest.

2.      Description and Analysis

Description: On the map we can observe in purple in the Duero Valley and Plana de Vic  populated used the methods of the aprisio or presura; in green between Duero and Tajo valleys , the lands populated through the concession of fueros; in yellow between Tajo and Guadiana valleys and the upper Júcar and Turia valleys the lands populated by the military orders and in orange in the Guadalquivir and Mediterranean coast the  lands distributed among those who helped conquer this territory (repartimientos of donadíos and heredamientos).

Analysis:

The small groups of Christians who didn’t accept the authority of the Muslim conquerors took refuge in the mountains areas of the North of the Iberian Peninsula and as time went by new Christian States appeared in different parts of the peninsula. These States were the origin of the Christian kingdoms which led the so called “Reconquest”, developed in several stages, depending on the situation of Al- Andalus. Until the 11^th century few territories were conquered, but after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba the Christian advance started and so did the repopulation.

On the 11^th they conquered Toledo, Tarragona and Huesca. On the 12^th century Castile and León went through complicated times and Portugal became an independent kingdom. The Crown of Aragon was created in the Pyrenean region and Navarre definitely separated from Aragon. On the 13^th century Portugal and Castile conquered all the Guadalquivir Valley and Aragón reached the Baetic Mountains and extended its expansion to the Mediterranean Sea.

After conquering the territories, the Christians imposed their political structures and economic system of exploitation. This is called “repopulation”, although the lands conquered were not depopulated. This process was different depending on the power of the monarchs, the nobles and the Church, and also with respect to the treatment given to the Muslim population who fell in the hands of the conquerors. Taking this into account, there were four different methods of repopulation that we can observe on the map:

-        - In the first moments of the Christian advance, it was common that free peasants or monasteries seized land spontaneously and started exploiting it without any control from the kings. This process was called presura in Castile and aprisio in the Pyrenean area. On the map we can see that this was done in Duero Valley and Plana de Vic.

-              - Later in the repopulation of the lands between Duero and Tajo valleys kings gave fueros (charters of liberties) to the cities in the border areas to attract population.

-      - In other cases kings gave land to the military orders. This way of population was used especially between the Tajo and Guadiana valleys. The military orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and San Juan were in charge of populating these areas in Castile and the order of Montesa populated areas of Valencia.

-          -   In other cases kings gave land to the people who settled down in the conquered territories. In Castile, the kings gave big plots of land to the nobles who helped them and this is the origin of the large estates of La Mancha, Extremadura and Andalucía (donadíos and heredamientos in the Guadalquivir Valley). In Aragón the kings gave smaller plots of land to the nobles who helped them.

The repopulation meant the establishment of the political and economic structures of the Christian kingdoms in these territories: monarchy, estate-based society, feudalism, peasants submitted to the privileged, subsistence economy…

3.      Conclusion

Repopulation allowed the control of the conquered land. The system of repopulation was different in each zone depending of the circumstances, necessities and the time which passed and they were able to improve the methods.

The consequences of the repopulation that we can relate with the map could be the linguistic division of the Valencian Community, populated by Aragonese, are Castilian-speaking areas, as well as the structure of the property of the land still visible at present (in the 2^nd half of the 19^th century) (large estates in Extremadura, Castile La-Mancha and Andalusia, small properties in the North and East...).