The Evolution of Population Distribution on the Iberian Peninsula: A Transnational Approach (1877–2001)

Abstract

Surpassing the national perspective usually adopted, the authors confirmed the existence of a pattern of population distribution common to the whole Iberian Peninsula in the long run. This pattern is clearly associated with geographical factors. These variables seem to have more weight in explaining changes between 1877/78 and 1940 than in the period from 1940 to 2001. The observation of the cross-border region has shown that proximity to the frontier has not generated any distinct pattern of population density on either side of the boundary line. The spatial coherence of the observed phenomena throughout the Peninsula and of its evolution, independent of the border between states, reinforces the importance of geographic factors in their explanation. At the same time, this verification opens up new issues related to the effect of national political and economic policies.

Keywords:

• border studies
• geographic information systems
• Iberian Peninsula
• spatial population distribution
• transnational history

Acknowledgments

This work began within the research project, “The Development of European Waterways, Road and Rail Infrastructures: A Geographical Information System for the History of European Integration (1825–2005),” developed under European Science Foundation EUROCORES programme. In Portugal, it was funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. The good relationships established with the Spanish team allowed the integration of Josep Puig-Farré into our group from 2009 to 2011, a period in which we began developing the historical geographical information system on the Iberian Peninsula. The problems that we faced and the methodology to solve them were presented in several conferences in 2010, and the Iberian Peninsula was then integrated into our geographical information system website(http://atlas.fcsh.unl.pt/). We benefited from the discussions with Jordi Marti-Henneberg and Xavier Franch in July 2011 and with the colleagues attending the workshop “L' Ús dels SIG en l' Estudi de la Integració Europea (1870–2010)” held in Barcelona in March 2012, also organized by Jordi Marti-Henneberg, and funded by European Union (Jean Monnet 200215_LLP-1-ES- AJMIC).

Notes

1. Information available at http://www.igeo.pt/produtos/cadastro/caop/caop_vigor.htm and http://centrodedescargas.cnig.es/CentroDescargas/equipamiento.do?method=mostrarEquipamiento.

2. http://www.opengis.uab.es/wms/iberia/en_index.htm .

3. Population of a parish in the initial year was allocated to the corresponding parishes of the target year, according to the weight of each of the latter in the total population of this set of units in 2001.