The cartographic representation of the municipalities of La Mancha in the 18th century. The Ensenada Cadastre

Abstract

For geographers and historians, it is an obvious fact that any study of the agrarian, social and economic history of our country in the Eighteenth century must necessarily go through a thorough analysis of the information offered by the Cadastre of the Marquis of Ensenada. The cadastral geohistorical sources give us a municipal territorial information that helps us understand the present landscape. The cartography included in the documentation set of the Cadastre, made in the territory of the Crown of Castile, is not technical and is based on the perception that was held of these spaces, which generated a set of “drawings” very significant municipal. The interest in the cartography of the Intendancy of La Mancha is double, as much for its level of conservation, and, on the other hand, for the level of detail and peculiarities that this cartography presents. The goal of this study sheds light on the process of cartographic representation that was used in said Cadastre, as well as a classification of them that will serve as the basis for later studies of other municipalities.