Socioecological Transition in Land and Labour Exploitation in Mallorca: From Slavery to a Low-Wage Workforce, 1229–1576

Gabriel Jover-Avellà, Antoni Mas-Forners, Ricard Soto-Company and Enric Tello
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Gabriel Jover-Avellà: Economics Department, University of Girona, Montilivi Campus, 17003 Girona, Spain
Antoni Mas-Forners: Departament of Historical Sciences and Arts Theory, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, University of Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Cra. de Valldemossa, km 7.5, 07122 Palma, Spain
Ricard Soto-Company: Department of Economic History, Institutions, Policy and World Economy, University of Barcelona, Diagonal Avenue 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-26

Abstract: The permanence of slave labour until the 16th century was a lasting legacy of the late feudal colonization of the Mallorca Island. Through a large set of probate inventories and accounting books, we have documented the use of a great deal of slaves in farming large noble estates during the 14th and 15th centuries. The defeat of the peasant revolt of 1450–1454 offered to nobles and patricians the opportunity to seize much of the land previously colonized by Mallorcan peasants. This creation of a dispossessed peasantry, combined with new trade demands, led to a transition from slave-powered manorial farms to capitalist olive oil-exporting estates that took advantage of the low-wage workforce reserve. A peculiar feature was the massive use of women’s gangs as olive pickers when olive oil became the main cash-crop exported from the 16th century onwards. By linking changes in work and land uses, this study brings to Southern Europe the debate over the driving forces of the emergence of agrarian capitalism.

Keywords: feudalism; slavery; agricultural low-wage labour market; women hired as farm daily labourers; land use change; socioecological transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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