The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth?
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2017 |
Outros Autores: | |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10451/28189 |
Resumo: | Two historiographic currents have debated whether early modern Portugal was cursed by an excessive dependence on agricultural imports due to being unable to feed its population. In this short paper, the first long-run systematic quantitative study of this question, we show that the former view is a myth and therefore could not be a curse. Throughout the entire period, a certain amount of grain was in fact imported but cereal purchases abroad never represented more than a diminutive percentage of total food consumption. More importantly, the country carried out a diversified trade in foodstuffs which was seldom seriously out of balance. Portuguese agriculture showed itself consistently capable of specializing in different foodstuffs for export. It was thus not hopelessly inefficient and succeeded reasonably well in meeting the basic nutritional needs of the population. |
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The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth?Food deficitAgricultureForeign tradeTwo historiographic currents have debated whether early modern Portugal was cursed by an excessive dependence on agricultural imports due to being unable to feed its population. In this short paper, the first long-run systematic quantitative study of this question, we show that the former view is a myth and therefore could not be a curse. Throughout the entire period, a certain amount of grain was in fact imported but cereal purchases abroad never represented more than a diminutive percentage of total food consumption. More importantly, the country carried out a diversified trade in foodstuffs which was seldom seriously out of balance. Portuguese agriculture showed itself consistently capable of specializing in different foodstuffs for export. It was thus not hopelessly inefficient and succeeded reasonably well in meeting the basic nutritional needs of the population.Duas correntes historiográficas têm debatido se Portugal, durante o período moderno, se confrontou com a maldição de uma crónica dependência de importação de bens agrícolas para satisfazer as necessidades alimentares básicas da população. Neste artigo, que é uma primeira tentativa de estimar na longa dura- ção uma balança alimentar, mostra-se que essa dependência é um mito, pelo que não seria uma maldição. Ao longo do período moderno, entre 1550 e 1850, certas quantidades de cereais foram, na verdade, importadas regularmente, mas tais importações não corresponderam a uma parte relevante do consumo doméstico. Alem disso, e ainda mais significativo, verifica-se que o reino desenvolveu um comércio diversificado de bens agrícolas que equilibrou as importações. Daqui se conclui que a agricultura portuguesa foi suficientemente dinâ- mica para desenvolver uma especialização em diferentes bens alimentares para exportação. Não seria, portanto, irremediavelmente ineficiente; e foi razoavelmente capaz de responder às necessidades alimentares da população.Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências SociaisRepositório da Universidade de LisboaCosta, Leonor FreireReis, Jaime2017-06-26T17:01:43Z20172017-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10451/28189engLeonor Freire Costa e Jaime Reis (2017). The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? Análise Social, Vol. LII (2.º), 2017 (n.º 223), 416-4290003-2573info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-11-08T16:19:35Zoai:repositorio.ul.pt:10451/28189Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T21:44:25.206213Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
title |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
spellingShingle |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? Costa, Leonor Freire Food deficit Agriculture Foreign trade |
title_short |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
title_full |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
title_fullStr |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
title_full_unstemmed |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
title_sort |
The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? |
author |
Costa, Leonor Freire |
author_facet |
Costa, Leonor Freire Reis, Jaime |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Reis, Jaime |
author2_role |
author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Costa, Leonor Freire Reis, Jaime |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Food deficit Agriculture Foreign trade |
topic |
Food deficit Agriculture Foreign trade |
description |
Two historiographic currents have debated whether early modern Portugal was cursed by an excessive dependence on agricultural imports due to being unable to feed its population. In this short paper, the first long-run systematic quantitative study of this question, we show that the former view is a myth and therefore could not be a curse. Throughout the entire period, a certain amount of grain was in fact imported but cereal purchases abroad never represented more than a diminutive percentage of total food consumption. More importantly, the country carried out a diversified trade in foodstuffs which was seldom seriously out of balance. Portuguese agriculture showed itself consistently capable of specializing in different foodstuffs for export. It was thus not hopelessly inefficient and succeeded reasonably well in meeting the basic nutritional needs of the population. |
publishDate |
2017 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2017-06-26T17:01:43Z 2017 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/28189 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10451/28189 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Leonor Freire Costa e Jaime Reis (2017). The chronic food deficit of early modern Portugal: curse or myth? Análise Social, Vol. LII (2.º), 2017 (n.º 223), 416-429 0003-2573 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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