Towards an industrial pattern: historical development of livestock and stockbreeding in Cantabrian Spain

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects in the long-term of the evolution of livestock and stockbreeding in Cantabrian Spain. Until the 17th century, when American crops spread at different rates throughout the Cantabrian region, stockbreeding was based on an extensive pattern. But, since then, due to, above all, maize-growing as well as the expansion of grasslands and meadows, stockbreeding shifted towards intensive methods, which allowed the modernisation of the sector, by means of technological progress and the introduction of industrial exploitation systems from the 19th century onwards, even though different degrees of specialisation (meat, milk, etc.) were implemented, depending on the area. For that purpose, we are going to utilize the significant amount of recent literature available