ABSTRACT
The seventeenth century crisis saw a spectacular process of de-industrialization in Spain, during which the destruction of urban manufacturing was not compensated for by any shift in production to rural areas. Ne�ertheless, rural �pain did become the principal focus for what remained of the textile industries. In the second half of the seventeenth century they were above all centred on the manufacture of woollen cloth, followed by linen and silk. They were characterized by their dispersion, though in some parts of Castile, Catalonia, Valencia and Galicia pockets of more concentrated manufacture were to be found. Simultaneously, the economic decadence of the cities produced a fall in demand among the elites and the middle
Map 17.1 Regions of Spain
Map 17.2 Catalonian textile regions
classes and, consequently, a decline in the quality of woollen cloth.2 Meanwhile, the mar�et for fine cloths �as co�ered by foreign suppliers, �hose �ares inundated both Spain and its colonies.
