Complex networks to understand the past: the case of the roads in the Borbonic Spain
Authorsand e-mail of them:
Federico Pablo Martí (UAH)
Angel Sánchez (UC3M)
Department: Economics
University: University of Alcalá
Subject area: (please, indicate the subject area which corresponds to the paper)
Abstract: (maximum 300 words)
The idea of the work is to study the impact of the illustrated reforms of the Bourbons in the field of the roads and the possible territorial differences to which they have given rise. In this context, there are two hypotheses that are being handled:
1. The radial design of the network of post roads and Royal roads was inadequate, based on arbitrary and / or political criteria, without attention to economic aspects.
2. The reforms carried out were relevant. That is to say, they meant a significant transformation of the network with respect to the situation existing at the end of the Habsburg dynasty.
In this work, we start, unlike the preexisting studies, with a detailed cartographic evaluation, mainly foreign (Valk, 1704; Guillemot, 1823). The Spanish maps of the time (for example, by Cabanes, 1829) reflect, in general, the administrative qualification of the roads without being fixed in their objective quality, more directed to the information of politicians and governors than to that of merchants and travelers. In contrast, Valk and Guillemot's military maps are more suitable to analyze the real condition of the network because they are made by foreign powers in order to facilitate the movement of their troops at two prewar times, the War of Succession and the campaign of the 100,000 sons of St. Louis, respectively. They are not constrained by any type of political conditioning and only consider the usability of the network.
Based on this basic information, we performed a network analysis in which we evaluate, on the one hand, the changes in accessibility and centrality derived from the investments made by de crown during the period considered and, on the other, if the radial design was inadequate. For this last aspect, the network that should have been generated to cover the needs of the different territories is simulated and its efficiency compared with the actual one. This research is completed with the study of the counterfactual that starts from the generation of radial networks centered in the diverse cities that were shuffled in the middle of century XVI to serves the capitals of Spain.
Our main conclusion is that, in contrast to the hypotheses previously mentioned, the territorial imbalances derived from the radial design of the network of real roads undertaken in the second half of the eighteenth century were not very noticeable, reaching the first quarter of the nineteenth century with a network relatively homogenous at national level both from the point of view of distribution and quality.
Keywords: (maximum 6 words) Transport networks, historical studies
JEL codes: