Un Geòmetra francès a Espanya: Jean-Antoine Laur (1850-1860)

The implantation of the Land Tax, Contribución de Inmuebles, cultivo y
ganadería, in 1845 produced in several parts of Spain a numerous and diverse
cadastral cartography. Only in the province of Barcelona have been catalogued
140 different cartographical cadastral documents (atlases and plans) elaborated
between 1849 and 1883. The production of this cartography and the
new perspectives opened by the Spanish liberal reformists at the end of the
1850 decade in order to make up a general cadastre attracted to Spain several
foreigners land surveyors. This article is dedicated to analyze the professional
trajectory in Catalonia and Madrid of one of these land surveyors: the French
Jean-Antoine Laur. Laur, that was chief of the French cadastre, worked making
up several cadastral maps of the province of Barcelona and collaborated
with the Spanish Statistical Board in the design of the one general cadastre of
Spain.