Masos, masies i cases de pagès a la Catalunya de 1860: una anàlisi espacial

Abstract

This paper examines the spatial distribution of la masia (Catalonian traditional country house) in Catalonia in 1860. Data comes from the Nomenclator of the 1860 Population Census: a unique source that included individual registration of single-house population settlements. Out of the 27.000 settlements that were identified by the Nomenclator in 1860, more than 20.000 were registered as isolated masias. Thanks to this extraordinarily detailed information, density indicators of this type of settlement could be estimated at the local scale. We use spatial statistics (G statistic) to explore the spatial distribution of masias in Catalonia and to locate areas of higher and lower densities. This paper provides a innovative statistical perspective on what for centuries has been an essential feature of the Catalonian settlement pattern.