Conquista feudal y transformaciones agrarias: colonización agrícola y ganadería en el prado de Tortosa, siglos XII-XIII

This paper examines the earliest colonisation of the Tortosa plain, following the Christian conquest of 1148. The research follows a historiographic line that highlights the impact of the conquest of al-Andalus by Christian kingdoms from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It focuses especially on the modifications that the conquerors made to the Andalusian agrarian landscape, aimed chiefly at increasing production and feudal rents. The research methodology involved examining the documentation generated by the conquest, then comparing and contrasting it to archaeological survey work, field work and study of available maps. Agrarian spaces are identified and landscape features described, including networks of drainage canals, roads, a flour mill, caves, estates (mansi) and large meadows dotted with ponds and lagoons. The conquerors expanded the drainage infrastructure and divided the land into homogenous, but not necessarily contiguous, field systems with vineyards, green gardens, and plots for dryland agriculture. However, large areas remained uncultivated for grazing.