Defensive spaces through the Ensenada Cadastre: the case of Algarrobo, Torre del Mar and Fuengirola (Málaga, Spain)

The study addresses the subject of the cadastre of defensive spaces in the Cadastre of Ensenada (1749), with a particular focus on the coastal areas of Algarrobo, Torre del Mar and Fuengirola in the province of Málaga, Spain. The Cadastre, initiated during the tenure of Ferdinand VI, sought to supplant the provincial rentas with a unified contribution. In order to achieve this, it was necessary to ascertain the tax base, which would be calculated using the data obtained from the cadastral survey of the entire Crown of Castile (with the exception of the Basque Country, Navarre and the Canary Islands). However, the treatment of defensive spaces was heterogeneous due to the lack of specific regulations on how to settle them. Consequently, this study analyses these spaces in order to identify the typologies and forms in which they were annotated, to ascertain the normative interpretations made by the relevant parties and to determine why they acted differently in each case.