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It is now well recognized that in the century before 1670 English traders to the Mediterranean enjoyed remarkable success selling increasing quantities of textiles, with a growing proportion completely finished, downgrading Turkey and Italy to the position of raw material suppliers, and taking over a large part of the Mediterranean carrying trade. It is also clear that after 1700 it was the Mediterranean trade, especially that with Spain and Portugal, which redeemed England's very modest trading performance with Europe. The chief interest of the activities of businessman John Oldbury and his group of business associates is that they date from the generation, which separates these two periods and therefore shed some light on the main commodity trades in Anglo-Iberian commerce in the last thirty years of the seventeenth century. Spain and Portugal were two agricultural countries ruling large colonial empires, and yet lacking sufficient manufacturing capacity even to begin to meet metropolitan demands. The success of English textiles in the area is to be accounted for by the virtually total default of indigenous industry. All English exports were of central, if not crucial, importance to the receiving economies and their dependent colonies, and it was this basic fact, which underlay England's dominant position. Iberian trade to England, on the other hand, was not equally indispensable.

In this paper, a statistical analysis is made of the social and economic characteristics associated with the decline of marital fertility in Spain. Variables examined on a provincial basis are marriage patterns, marital fertility, and indices of industrialization, urbanization, and literacy. Cross-section and time-series analyses of the data do not indicate a strong association between fertility and indicators of development. Rural-urban differentials in marital fertility are small when examined by province.

The article discusses key issues related to entrepreneurship which are relevant to the founders, heirs and managers of firms in Spain. In a society such as the Spanish one, in which the task of industrializing the country has not been assumed by the state, the capitalist entrepreneur occupies a preeminent position. Managers are those who take on the direction of the firm as representatives of its owners: a family, a few business partners, a bank, a financial group, or a large number of shareholders. The founders are those who have taken an active part in the creation of the firm, who typically show by their answers a personality profoundly devoted to the firm, which has its negative as well as positive aspects. The group of heirs is possibly the most heterogeneous, since it includes those at the head of firms started by their grand-parents. In industrial Spain, Catalonian firms are the best known, and given the region's industrial tradition, there are more firms founded by the grandfather than in the rest of industrialized Spain. The concept of familialism in the firms in Spain gives a kind of closeness to the company and lends to relations among the personnel, especially managerial personnel, a character very different from that found in contractual and profit-making relationships.

Analyzes the influence of the design of the staircase at the Monastery of San Lorenzo El Escorial to imperial staircases. Distinctions in staircases; Facts on Renaissance stairwells in Spain; Attribution of the staircase at the monastery.

Discusses the coastal geomorphology of Majorca, an island in Spain. Divisibility of the large-scale morphology of the Balearic Islands to two basic structural units; Description of the physiographic characteristics of the areas; Association of cliff coasts with deeper waters offshore.

Focuses on the factors causing the excessive dispersion of landholdings in Spain. Division of territories among settlers; Expropriation of large estates; Details on the principles of equal sharing.

The article focuses on demography of Spain during the eighteenth century. All authors agree that the population of Spain at the beginning of the 18th century, at the end of the wars of succession, was below the levels reached in the late 16th century. Enumerations and count of the population were taken during this time, but their varying degree of completeness makes it difficult to provide full statistical support for this generally held opinion. The 18th century marks the beginning of a new cycle of population growth. The peace of Utrecht initiated a period of relative prosperity; the plague disappeared and in spite of the frequent epidemic outbreaks of yellow fever and smallpox, "catastrophic" mortality began effectively to be checked. The gains in population through natural increase in normal years were reduced, but not cancelled, by losses in the years of high mortality. In spite of diverging opinions on the reliability of the various censuses, it is almost certain that the 18th century exhibited a steady rate of population growth.

This article discusses the geographical activities classification of the Casa De La Contraction of Spain. The recent union of Castile and Aragon in Spain, with the consequent bracing of absolutism, made it a comparatively easy matter for the Sovereigns to select a private body of administrators to assist in the organization and control of new interests. Seeing that hitherto there had never been a situation quite comparable to this which had arisen and that none of the existing functionaries of government had ever been called upon to give consideration to problems touching the organization of newly acquired trans-oceanic possessions.

The article reports developments related to nuclear power policies of several countries worldwide. An atomic power plant will be built in India by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The government of Spain offered to sell 140 tons of uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Japan's uranium supply for its first atomic power station will be provided by the British Atomic Energy Authority.