Nuevas Poblaciones de Sierra Morena y Andalucía (in English: New Settlements of Sierra Morena y Andalucía) was a Spanish intendancy created in 1784, during the reign of Charles III of Spain, under a charter of its own issued in 1767. This charter was later repealed on three occasions: between 1810 and 1811 under Joseph Bonaparte, by the Cortes of Cádiz (between 1813Decree CCXLIII (in Spanish), of 24 March 1813. The intendancy is abolished; measures for the formation of its town councils and designation of its territory, pastures, etc. and 1814) and during the Liberal Triennium (1820–1823). The definitive abolition took place on 5 March 1835 by royal decree. This intendancy was the "fifth Andalusian province", with the same political and administrative level as the Four Kingdoms of Andalusia: Córdoba, Jaén, Seville and Granada.
Charles III entrusted the creation and management of the Nuevas Poblaciones to Pablo de Olavide, as superintendent, in 1767. He founded towns in Sierra Morena, between Córdoba and Écija and between Écija and Carmona. The objective was to improve the safety of the traffic of people and goods traveling along that part of the road from Madrid to Andalusia, which was a wild area where bandits took refuge. To this end, agriculture and livestock farming were promoted in those places with Central European Catholic settlers, mainly Germans, Flemings and Swiss. The first settlers were brought by the Bavarian adventurer .
An attempt was made to create a new social organization free from the inherited flaws of the past which, according to the Enlightened reformers, hindered rural life. To this end, Olavide and Campomanes drafted the Charter of the Nuevas Poblaciones, which regulated the economic and social aspects of the settlers' lives.
The new human settlements did not receive the name of city, town or place, but were known as parishes and hamlets and all together as "Nuevas Poblaciones". The superintendent's seat was established in La Carolina in 1767, remaining from 1784 as the seat of the intendancy, and a subdelegation was established in La Carlota in 1768.
Settlements
In Sierra Morena the following new settlements were created: Aldeaquemada, Arquillos, Carboneros, La Carolina —seat of the superintendent and later of the intendancy—, Guarromán, , , Montizón, , , and Santa Elena.
The parish of La Carolina had three villages: Camino de Granada (Isabela), Venta del Catalán (Fernandina) and Vista Alegre. That of Carboneros had four: , Los Cuellos, La Mesa de Carboneros and Escolástica. Guarromán had four: Arellano, , Los Ríos and El Altico. Arquillos had one: . Montizón had two: and . Aldeaquemada had three: Buenos Aires, Santa Cruz and Tamujosa. Santa Elena had: El Portazgo, Venta Nueva and Las Correderas (the houses of Las Correderas, El Collado de los Jardines and Mojón Blanco). Miranda, with one: . Navas de Tolosa with: Fuente del Rey or del Rey (Eight Houses) and Camino de Vilches (Six Houses).
In Lower Andalusia the following new settlements were created: La Carlota —seat of a subdelegation—, La Luisiana, Fuente Palmera and San Sebastián de los Ballesteros.
The parish of La Carlota had five villages: , , , and Vaneguillas. Fuente Palmera housed the villages of Cañada, , , , , , Aldea del Río (current hamlet ), and Fuente Carreteros (independent municipality since 2018). La Luisiana, for its part, had three villages: Cañada Rosal (independent municipality since 1986), and Motillos.
In 1781 the settlement of Concepción de Almuradiel was founded in La Mancha, with inhabitants from the neighboring localities of Viso del Marqués and Santa Cruz de Mudela. In 1793 the village was administratively incorporated into the Nuevas Poblaciones de Sierra Morena, which at that time was directed as intendant by Miguel de Ondeano. From then on, it was subject to the Charter of Nuevas Poblaciones of 1767.
In addition, following the same founding pattern, in 1768 the settlements of Armajal and Prado del Rey were created, with inhabitants from the Grazalema mountains and the Ronda mountains, which would give rise to the Cádiz municipality of Prado del Rey. This new settlement was never governed by the Charter of the Nuevas Poblaciones.
Background
The territories of the Holy Roman Empire were in a difficult situation after the last two wars. The colonizations carried out by Frederick II in the Prussian heaths had achieved great resonance. Similarly, Catherine the Great, between 1764 and 1765, had invited Germans to populate the vast empty lands of Russia.
In May 1766 , a Bavarian adventurer, proposed to King Charles III the recruitment in Germany and Flanders of some 6,000 settlers who could be used to develop the lands of Puerto Rico and South America. Before responding, the government wanted to consult the measure with Pablo de Olavide, considered competent and a good connoisseur of Spanish America.
Olavide replied that the prosperity of America depended on population, but that the increase should be treated differently depending on whether it concerned already exploited regions with an organized society or completely empty regions. In the already populated areas there was a society made up of whites of Spanish origin, Indians and black slaves. The Indians were employed in the mines and the blacks in the fields. For Olavide, if Germans were sent to these countries, they would "become contaminated" with racial prejudices and would soon move away from working the land, so no colony of workers would be created. On the other hand, it was urgent to populate the vast empty regions of southern South America, both to secure the stops for ships rounding Cape Horn and to prevent the English from settling there. However, for Olavide, populating them exclusively with foreigners presented drawbacks. For him, it would be better to colonize those territories with a part foreigners and a larger part Spaniards, so that the Spanish language would prevail, so that the religious ministry would be carried out by Spanish priests and, finally, to create laws and regulations with the purpose of Hispanicizing the foreigners. Olavide proposed that the Spaniards in charge of populating the empty areas of South America should come from the orphanages of Madrid and San Fernando de Henares.
Olavide's unfavorable opinion and that of a commission created for this purpose were transmitted to the Council of Castile, which proposed as the best solution to employ those six thousand settlers in populating "Sierra Morena or other depopulated areas".
It would be a matter of populating the deserted region between Valdepeñas, south of La Mancha, and Bailén, in the northern part of Andalusia. In this way, that enormous extension of mountains, previously exploited and abandoned from the 13th century onwards, would be recovered for agriculture, and the new general road planned in 1761 that would communicate Madrid with Andalusia would be secured. At that time, there was only a road, barely passable for carts, with some inns that were accomplices and coverers of bandits, who were found in those places and robbed and sometimes killed travelers. The Holy Brotherhood was not enough to pursue these criminals. The idea, from the times of Ferdinand VI, was to replace the forest and scrub with crops and establish in the terrain a sedentary population with interest in public safety, for which the population offered by the Bavarian adventurer was useful.
A new agreement with Thürriegel was therefore necessary. On 26 February 1767, the Council of Castile proposed to the sovereign a new draft agreement. This was ratified on 3 March before the chief notary of the council. Thürriegel undertook to recruit six thousand settlers, all Catholics, in Germany and Flanders, and to ensure their transport to Spanish ports. They would live according to Spanish laws but would be provided with clergy who spoke their language. Thürriegel would receive 326 reales for each person who disembarked in Spain and would be invested with the title of colonel. In addition, the Bavarian would be allowed to deliver at will eight titles of captain or lieutenant. These conditions were published in a royal decree of 2 April 1767.
The Council of Castile, presided over by the Count of Aranda, entrusted Pablo de Olavide with the task of directing the colonization. For Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes, fiscal of the council, to direct the colonies "it is necessary for someone to know how to understand and deal with men and make himself loved and respected by the multitude, of which Don Pablo de Olavide has given proof, in the rapid establishment of the Royal Hospice of San Fernando".
On 22 June 1767 the Madrid Gazette announced the appointment of Pablo de Olavide as superintendent of Nuevas Poblaciones, assistant of Seville and intendant of the Army in Andalusia.
Charter of the Nuevas Poblaciones of 1767 Olavide and Campomanes drafted the Charter of the Nuevas Poblaciones. This was an enlightened sociological experiment. It was an attempt to create, with entirely new elements, an ideal society free from the inherited flaws of the past which, according to the reformers, hindered rural life.
On 5 July 1767 a Royal Decree for the Nuevas Poblaciones was promulgated, incorporating an instruction given on 25 June 1767. The instruction has 79 precepts.
The superintendent was responsible for choosing the site of the new foundations:
Each family would be entitled to a house, a workable plot of 50 fanegas, about 33 hectares. Upon arrival they would receive the necessary tools to till, a plow and a pick, and livestock with two cows, a donkey, five sheep, as many goats, five hens, a rooster and a pregnant sow. They would also be provided with the necessary means of subsistence until the first harvests. Once they had cultivated the fifty fanegas, they would receive another fifty, free of all taxes and censuses for the first ten years.
Each holder had to fence his land with a hedge with fruit trees. The livestock of the Mesta would have no access to the colonized territory and their privileges would have no force there. There would be a close association between livestock and tillage, since each farmer would also be a livestock breeder. The house would be established on the plot of land granted, remaining scattered throughout the countryside. In addition, the establishment of population centers that were about a quarter of a league apart from each other was planned, as well as that the main centers would be located along the royal road of Andalusia.
The administrative unit would be the parish, whose jurisdiction would extend to four or five settlements and to the scattered farms located within its perimeter. They would have a deputy of the common in each village. Each parish would have a mayor and a syndic personero. All these positions had to be elected and could never be perpetual.
To choose their local representatives, the Nuevas Poblaciones were guided by the Auto Accordado issued by the Royal Council on 5 May 1766.
In each suitable place a church would be built, attended by a clergyman who spoke the language of the faithful, a building for the town hall and a jail. The municipal revenues would come from the product of the mills and common ovens and, eventually, from the portions of land cultivated in common by all the inhabitants.
Arbitrios, all privileges and monopolies that might hinder trade would be prohibited.
The foundation of any convent or religious community was prohibited.
Each town council had to build a school and elementary education would be compulsory for all children. However, to avoid the abandonment of agriculture, the foundation of grammar schools and university study centers was prohibited.