An agrarian history of Portugal, 1000-2000 : economic development on the European frontier /

"This book follows the renovation of European economic history towards a more unified interpretation of sources of growth and stagnation. To better understand the diversity of patterns of growth, we need to look beyond the study of the industrialization of the core economies, and explore the centuries before it occurred. Portuguese agriculture was hardly ever at the European productivity and technological forefront and the distance from it varied substantially across the second Millennium. Yet if we look at the periods of the Christian Reconquista, the recovery from the Black Death, the response to the globalization of the Renaissance, to the eighteenth century economic enlightenment, or to nineteenth century industrialization, we may conclude that agriculture in this country of the European periphery was often adaptive and dynamic. The fact that economic backwardness was not overcome by the end of the period is no longer the most relevant aspect of that story. Contributors are: Luciano Amaral, Amélia Branco, Dulce Freire, António Henriques, Pedro Lains, Susana Münch Miranda, Margarida Sobral Neto, Jaime Reis, Ana Maria Rodrigues, José Vicente Serrão and Ester G. Silva"--Publisher's website.Includes bibliographical references and index."This book follows the renovation of European economic history towards a more unified interpretation of sources of growth and stagnation. To better understand the diversity of patterns of growth, we need to look beyond the study of the industrialization of the core economies, and explore the centuries before it occurred. Portuguese agriculture was hardly ever at the European productivity and technological forefront and the distance from it varied substantially across the second Millennium. Yet if we look at the periods of the Christian Reconquista, the recovery from the Black Death, the response to the globalization of the Renaissance, to the eighteenth century economic enlightenment, or to nineteenth century industrialization, we may conclude that agriculture in this country of the European periphery was often adaptive and dynamic. The fact that economic backwardness was not overcome by the end of the period is no longer the most relevant aspect of that story. Contributors are: Luciano Amaral, Amélia Branco, Dulce Freire, António Henriques, Pedro Lains, Susana Münch Miranda, Margarida Sobral Neto, Jaime Reis, Ana Maria Rodrigues, José Vicente Serrão and Ester G. Silva"--Publisher's website.Introduction / Dulce Freire and Pedro Lains -- Part 1. State formation and Malthusian growth -- The Reconquista and its legacy, 1000-1348 / Antonio Henriques -- The Black Death and recovery, 1348-1500 / Ana Maria S.A. Rodrigues -- Part 2. New frontiers, crisis and growth -- Coping with Europe and the empire, 1500-1620 / Susana Munch Miranda -- Conflict and decline, 1620-1703 / Margarida Sobral Neto -- Extensive growth and market expansion, 1703-1820 / Jose Vicente Serrao -- Gross agricultural output : a quantitative, unified perspective, 1500-1850 / Jaime Reis -- Part 3. Growth, structural change and economic policy -- Growth, institutional change and innovation, 1820-1930 / Amelia Branco and Ester Gomes da Silva -- Agricultural policy, growth and demise, 1930-2000 / Luciano Amaral and Dulce Freire -- Part 4. Lessons from the second millennium -- Agriculture and economic development on the European frontier, 1000-2000 / Pedro Lains -- Appendix: Maps and figures for climate, relief, administrative divisions, urbanization, and infrastructures in Portugal, 1000-2000