ABSTRACT
Marina Torres Arce considers the growing importance of urban centres in a still predominantly rural society. Towns and cities often became sites of comparatively privileged positions in the early-modern period within the state's power structure as sites of varied layers of governance as well as new societal values. The urban world was marked by its internal diversity which increased with their growing economic role as centres of distribution and exchange. Yet the relationship to the surrounding countryside remained interdependent and dynamic. The process of urban growth, which was interrupted not linear, determined the morphology of Spain, giving particular predominance to cities found on the coasts. The smaller centres were more often found in the interior, excepting Madrid. Whether comparatively small or large, cities by the eighteen century became permanent fixtures in the political life of the country as locations of popular debate, courtly intrigue, political conflict and popular rebellion.
