Sixteenth-century Spain’s population grew from 7.5 to 8.5 million between 1541 and 1591

Evidence

For the peninsula as a whole, one can hardly do better than to follow the prudent approximation based on research given by Sir John Elliott in another context (Elliott 1986, 86): “Like other parts of Europe, sixteenthcentury Spain had seen a significant increase in population—perhaps from 7.5 to 8.5 million for the peninsula, excluding Portugal (whose population numbered rather over a million) between 1541 and 1591. Of this total population, almost 1.5 million were inhabitants of the Crown of Aragon; 350,000 of Navarre and the Basque Provinces; and some 6,600,000 of the lands of the Crown of Castile.” — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 92