The maps of the Spanish Royal Sites surveyed by de General Statistics Board, 1861-1869

Abstract

During the 1860’s the General Statistics Board of Spain developed a comprehensive mapping exercise to fulfill the Demarcation Act of the Royal Heritage, enacted in 1865, which ordered to map the Royal Sites. Successive topographic campaigns, which required the involvement of more than one hundred surveyors, reached up over 60,000 hectares corresponding to the Royal Sites of Aranjuez, the Casa de Campo, the Royal Possession of La Florida, El Pardo, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, La Granja de San Ildefonso and the Royal Forest of Riofrío. The maps of the Royal Sites, preserved in the archives of the National Geographic Institute, and mostly unpublished, are an irreplaceable source for the study of the possessions of the Crown, just before the sale of a part of the Royal Heritage during the 1868’s Revolution. This paper, which is based basically in primary sources, report on the preserved cartography, describes the survey system, and identify de protagonists of these works