Olive groves and vineyard crops, a milestone in the agrarian progress in Alcobaça (18th and 19th centuries)

Abstract

During the 18th and 19th centuries, two revolutions which take place in Alcobaça transform the landscape and implement the directives of the agrarian economy. The first revolution, in the 18th century, is based on the feudal system and on an agronomic plan which converts the Cistercian domains into lands of olive trees and olive oil; contrariwise, the second revolution in the late 19th-century is based on the growth of vineyard crops, and it results in the final break with the Cistercian agrarian system as it embraces the capitalistic dynamic.