The Community of Madrid has decided to declare transhumance as an Asset of Cultural Interest. This recognizes the historical, social and environmental value of a livestock practice that, although already very minority, is still alive in some areas of the territory in which the capital of Spain is located.
Transhumance was a true biannual nomadism, practiced from the winter pastures in the less cold areas, to the higher lands of the north in search of fresh summer grass.
Transhumance was a common practice in Spain until the 20th century, with open expanses of pasture areas, resting places, and livestock trails: ravines, paths and cordes depending on their width. The Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid was a real ravine.
Transhumance dates back to the creation of the Council of La Mesta, founded in 1273 by King Alfonso X the Wise. Institution that was in charge of the effective observance of the important royal privileges granted to the “shepherds of the kingdom”; based on the wealth that wool provided, especially merino, due to its export to trans-Pyrenean Europe.
Centuries passed and the effective decline of the institution was contributed by the railroad for transporting livestock, the increasing friction with farmers, and the subsequent shortage of shepherds. With the arrival of liberalism, and Ferdinand VII died in 1836, after several attempts, the Council of La Mesta and its abusive privileges were abolished. Dissolving decision to which the “Report on the Agrarian Law” contributed greatly, which was written at the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences by the illustrious Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, in what was one of the most clairvoyant pieces in favor of the modernization of the Spanish agricultural system.
For the history of the Mesta, see the classic study by Julius Klein (The Mesta, 1920), an economist at Harvard University, a singular example of a great doctoral thesis.