Arantza Pareja Alonso

The demography of the industrialized province of biscay in northern spain: Spatial Differences and Long-Term Changes

This article examines the profound social and demographic effects of industrialization and modernization on the province of Biscay in northern Spain. Careful analysis of household listings and census results for the years (1825), 1900, and 1930 for three representative regions of the province—the capital Bilbao, the new industrial center of Baracaldo, and a selection of rural communities—shows the profound effects of industrial immigration to the area on fertility and mortality patterns, nuptiality behaviors, and household structures. In addition, the accumulated changes left a socio-cultural division in the province between a modernized urban–industrial and a traditional rural region—a division that was strongly felt well into the twentieth century.