Why did get stagnated the Castilian transhumant flock in the second half of the eighteenth century? An interpretation

Abstract

First, this article analyses the available sources to study the quantitative evolution of the Castilian transhumant flocks during the eighteenth century. These sources allow concluding that the number of livestock increased during the first half of the century and thereafter, it entered in a stationary stage probably until the Independence War. This stagnation coincided with an increase of the wool exports and with positive results for the transhumant exploitations. Therefore, this paper proposes that the scarcity of pastureland is the main explanation for this stagnation. Related to this hypothesis, the article studies the conflict arising from access to these pasture lands, the ways the land were redistributed and how all these events gave rise to the Mesta and the Castilian transhumance crisis.