Transformation of the traditional farming society

During the process of disentailment by Mendizábal and Madoz (between 1837 and 1874) there was a change to a new model of accumulation dominated by a new local elite, of landowners, which had a considerable impact on the farming structure in Madrid. As a result, there was a transformation of Madrid rural society, due to the imbalance in the structure of landownership. The number of peasant labourers and landowners fell, because of the increase in day labourers who had lost their heritage, and landownership became the central pivot around which the new bourgeois society centred. The landowners who became labourers were basically those who had low incomes and could not afford to pay the constant taxes of all kinds –royal, ecclesiastical and municipal- which existed at the time, or who lived in areas where they were stripped of common land

According to García Alcalá’s research, an important area of Getafe and Móstoles fell into the hands of outsiders, especially nobles and burghers from Madrid, while other, previous studies show that in other neighbouring municipalities like Fuenlabrada and Leganés ownership of fertile land remained in the hands of smallholders with strong links and deep roots in the area. only in the case of Fuenlabrada did the drylands and irrigated fields remain, partly thanks to the fact that the plots stayed in the hands of small farming families whose activities were profitable until the 20^th century, and partly because the general urban plan protected this area.