Chapter 4 - Agrarian Expansion
Chafariz d’El-Rey (The King’s Fountain) - This oil painting by an anonymous Flemish artist from c. 1570-1580 features images associated with the wealth and power of the Portuguese Empire, with goods flowing in from Guinea to Japan.
The year 1500 was characterized by many historians as the definite start of the rapid development of the Portuguese economy in the early modern age, in coincidence with the economic and population growth of Europe in the 16th century. The reign of João II led to an upturn in population numbers, a clear sign of the long-term cycle of prosperity, along with the rise in
per capita output that exceeded pre-Black Death levels, unlike in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. Industrial and Agricultural production has increased in addition to the development of the intercontinental trade.
João II knew that if Portugal’s empire can last for generations, it cannot just simply ignore the premature industrial and agricultural base and buy everything with the gold they have from their successful intercontinental trade. Rather, he believed that it is his and the House of Avis’s duty for Portugal to be an industrious country and produce exports in order to forge a strong empire.
A typical scene of the Portuguese farmland, taken not far from Lisbon
The long-term population of the 16th century pushed up demand for land, and urban expansion means greater demand for food and raw materials. From the last decades of the 15th century, more lands were brought under cultivation, especially with the extension of arable land consisted of reclaiming areas left empty after 1350. In Galiza and Leão, the extension of arable land also took place in order to maximize productivity of foodstuffs, with emphasis on irrigation. With this, Portugal has plenty of arable land that could be put to good use. Throughout the country, landowners, seigneurial lords, and church institutions encouraged the recovery of abandoned arable land by allowing lower fees for land use. The expansion of farmland also called for clearing acreages that had never been cultivated in both reclaiming of abandoned ones and clearance of new ones. Examples of expansion of farmland were almost everywhere, especially in Alentejo and rural hinterlands of Galiza, with the former having undulating plains and rich fertile soil, becoming the breadbasket of Portugal.
The expansion of arable land took the form of clearing woodlands, draining marshlands, as seen in Estremadura and the Algarve. In some areas, such intensive clearing led to total deforestation. In the Trás-os-Montes region and in some parts of Galiza, peasants used the slash-and-burn technique to obtain new land for the cultivation of rye for a limited time. However, the use of such techniques is restricted, as João II issued an edict in 1509 that made the use of the technique forbidden in areas that are vital to the shipbuilding sector, like in the area around
Viana do Castelo [1].
The extensive growth occurred within the institutional framework that ruled access to land and determined social property relations in the Middle Ages. Access to agrarian land was still regulated by several types of agrarian contracts, which provided the necessary incentive for the takeover of new acreages. Emphyteutic contracts were widespread, as they satisfied conditions for both the landowner and the tenant. In addition, the rights of exploitation over plots of land communally owned were regularly transferred to peasant families through short-term leasing, an arrangement which fostered the replacement of pasture with arable land. João II also intervened through the expansion of the use of granting
sesmarias, which are vacant or abandoned land appropriated by the crown which are allocated to peasants for the use of agriculture. In the first three decades of the 16th century, such
sesmarias were granted to promote cultivation, from the expansion of the production of cereals in Alentejo to the production of new crops coming from the New World like rice and corn.
Landowners also played an active role in the expansion of arable land by investing in more expensive and demanding ventures, such as the draining of marshlands and clearing of woodlands, with assistance from the Crown. Clerical and noble institutions played a key role in such ventures, especially in the Mondego and Tagus river valleys, and in Alentejo. The Crown itself took on similar efforts, such as the draining of swamps around
Óbidos in the Estremadura region and an ambitious engineering project from 1498-1499 that changed the course of the Tagus river, designed to protect farmland in the floodplains around
Santarém from the sand brought by the river [2]. Such expansion of arable land was achieved quickly by peasant families in order to make more room for Portugal’s population to expand to around 2.5 million by the beginning of the 17th century. Similar growth happened with Galiza at 1.3 million and Leão at 1.5 million [3]
Salted cod in a market in Lisbon
In addition to the agrarian expansion, the fishing industry has also made great strides during João II’s reign. As an Atlantic country and a major seafaring nation, Portugal has a long tradition in the fishing sector with one of the highest fish consumption per capita. Cod, or
bacalhau has been produced around the time of the Age of Exploration. The ancient techniques of drying and salting keep the many nutrients and makes the cod tastier. This technique is used even further upon the discovery of the island of
Bacalhau before the Portuguese colonization by the Italian-born English explorer
John Cabot in 1497 as Portuguese and Galician fisherman started fishing in the cod-rich
Grand Banks. In addition, several fisheries in Galiza were expanded, mostly in
Vigo and
Corunha, the former eventually becoming one of the main fishing ports in Europe. The region seas around the region of Huelva also provide a good fishing ground in the south, east of the Algarve. After hearing the news of potential fishing grounds around the region, João II ordered a new city to be established there, named
Ilha Catarina in 1502, named after Infante Afonso’s spouse
Catherine of York. The city became one of the most important fishing ports for Leão, and its catch being highly prized throughout Portugal [4].
[1] The OTL clearings in the early decades of the 16th century led to shortages of wood around Viana, which is related to the intense demand for shipbuilding timber. In the Algarve, the recurrent use of slash-and-burn clearings triggered deforestation of the mountains near Tavira. A prohibition of the use the technique in the area ensued in 1561, in order to protect the woodlands and the shipbuilding sector. TTL we have an earlier prohibition that extend to all of Portugal.
[2] OTL this occured around 1543-1544.
[3] I deduced the data of the new Portuguese territories through a guesstimation from the Castilian census of 1591. Any feedback would be appreciated as my numbers might be wrong, as it was difficult to look for data for the Castilian population in 1500 and 1550.
[4] The city was established 1755 OTL.
