La hacienda de Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1936-1958)

Abstract

The Canary Islands were not outside to the deep and prolonged crisis of autarchy, and the departure of thousands of islanders across the Atlantic was perhaps the most visible sign. To the difficult circumstances of the Civil War and Second World War, was added an autocratic policy that in the case of the island's economy had its own aspect, because it cut the link that had been essential piece in its historical becoming, its free access to the international market. In addition, the vulnerability of the islands to the outside pressure, its possible occupation by Allied forces and the demand of commodities (food, energy), determined that during much of the period the economy was ruled by the military authority, based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ancient capital in times of the single province (until 1927). This paper studies the treasury of this city with the purpose of pondering the meaning of this process of economic, political and institutional change in the most immediate fiscal plane to the citizen life.