The Guadiana River and the Real Dehesa de Zacatena at the end of the Ancient Regime. Drainage projects, environmental changes and institutional disputes ; El Guadiana y la Real Dehesa de Zacatena a finales del Antiguo Régimen. Proyectos de desecación, cambios ambientales y conflictividad institucional

Open Access

Abstract

In the mid-18th century, the Spanish Crown took action in the Guadiana riverbed to drain its banks and increase the land for cultivation and grazing. The project, which was demanded by the local elites, has been presented as a reflection of the antagonism between millers and cattle breeders in a context dominated by the government intention to increase state income. However, the plan was not intended to diminish the river influence, but also to reorder the natural resources of the region. This paper analyses the result of that public operation on the basis of the boundary carried out after the work was completed. To this end, the river situation after the drainage is studied. In addition, the socio-economic impact of that works has been analysed, as well as the institutional and jurisdictional changes that came of it. Finally, the landscape transformations and the problems which were encountered by the authorities in ensuring the permanence of the project have been also studied. For this purpose, historic records have been used, especially judicial ones. The result has been the confirmation that the landscape conditions that result of the project could not be durable, not only because of the vitality of the river environment, but of the diverging interests of the people who lived off of the river. ; A mediados del siglo XVIII, la Corona intervino en el cauce alto del río Guadiana para desecar su ribera y aumentar las tierras de cultivo y pasto. La obra, reclamada por las elites locales, se ha puesto como reflejo del antagonismo entre molineros y ganaderos en un contexto dominado por el deseo regio de aumentar los ingresos estatales. No obstante, el proyecto no solo pretendía disminuir la influencia del río, sino reordenar los recursos naturales de la comarca. Este trabajo analiza el resultado de aquella operación basándose en el deslinde ejecutado tras la finalización de la obra. Para ello se traza una panorámica del estado en que quedó la vega tras el drenaje del río, se analiza el impacto socioeconómico de ...