The beginnings of industrilisation

Transfer of the customs, along with growing economic protectionism aimed at creating a national Spanish market, boosted the nascent Gipuzkoan industry, which was characterized by its geographical spread and range of sectors (textiles,  iron works, food production, match production and ceramics) and small businesses employing few people. One business that stood out, both for its  economic importance and because it was concentrated in the area around Tolosa, was paper making.


 

Another factor that favoured the incipient industrialization of Gipuzkoa in the middle of the century was the development of transport systems:  the opening of the N I Madrid-Irun in 1847 and the inauguration of the Madrid-Paris rail link in 1864.

 To learn more on this subjetc: "The train in Gipuzkoa" (Bertan Colection). 

 An example of the bourgeoisie’s dynamism was the way they extended the cities. In the case of Donostia, it ceased to be a fortified town, the city walls were knocked down in 1863, opening up the possibility of a new city worthy of being what was now the official provincial capital and the Royal Court’s summer resort. While the province industrialized, Irun grew around the station and the customs while Donostia, in common with neighbouring Biarritz, became a spa town which attracted the European aristocracy and was a tourist destination before the term was in general use. 

To learn more on this subjetc: "The train in Gipuzkoa" (Bertan Colection).