The AEHE (The Spanish Association of Economic History) was founded in 1972 during the I Congreso de Historia Económica (Congress of Economic History). With support from the Banco de España, Gabriel Tortella and Jordi Nadal organized this Congress which was held in Barcelona on May 11-12, 1972. Almost fifty economic historians assisted and papers were published as proceedings in the book: Agriculture, Colony Commerce and Economic growth in Contemporary Spain (Agricultura, Comercio Colonial y Crecimiento Economico en la España Contemporanea) Ariel, 1974 which was edited by the organizers. This congress was the first step to the beginning of the Association

Until 1980, the so called Asociación de Historia Económica (AHE) (Economic History Association) did not set up either statutes or whatever institutional infrastructure (i.e. Secretary General, Presidency, Board, Assembly). In 1980, the AHE was established to promote research, teaching and publications related to economic history. Unlike other associations, the Secretary General was elected by the members of the Association and the President chosen from the members of the Executive Board. Gabriel Tortella, Professor at the University of Alcalá de Henares, was the first Secretary General while Mr. Felipe Ruiz Martín, Professor at the Universidad Autónoma, Madrid, was the President. Three years later, Gabriel Tortella founded and directed the journal Revista de Historia Económica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, which was not linked to the AHE.

In 2004, AHE became Asociación Española de Historia Económica (AEHE) (Spanish Association of Economic History) due to the influence of young economic history associations of Latin American, and changed some of its statutes. Today, the journal Investigaciones de Historia Económica is the official publication of the AEHE, published every four months since it began in 2005. One of the main objectives of the AEHE is that a national congress hould be held every four years. That is why, after the association had been constituted, the second congress was organized in Alcalá de Henares (1981). And other congresses followed: III Congress (Segovia, 1985), IV Congress (Alicante, 1989), V Congress (San Sebastian, 1993), VI Congress (Girona, 1997), VII Congress (Zaragoza, 2001), VIII Congress (Santiago de Compostela, 2005). A posterior change of statutes has led to both the organization of the congress every three years IX Congress (Murcia, 2008 and X Congress: Carmona, Sevilla, 2011) and the achievement of international scope.

Recently the AEHE has been supporting various initiatives. Some of which are designed to reflect and exchange views, on issues related to teaching, innovation, and quality education. In this sense, the meetings of teaching economic history are being held since 1990. The last was held at the University of La Laguna (September, 2007) and the next one will be organized by the University of Castilla-La Mancha (June 24-25, 2010) in Toledo.

Other initiatives aim to encourage exchanges of scientific activities among economic history associations such as the meetings of the Italian-Spanish Committee of Economic History, whose first meeting dates back to 1989 in Turin and the latest in Menorca, 2009. Likewise, the meetings of the Franco-Spanish Committee (Madrid July 2006, Aix-en-Provence June 2008) are supported too. The AEHE recognizes the trajectory of its most relevant members, the reputation of their teaching and the research excellence is being awarded. Thus, the Ramón Carande Prize, has been given annually since 1987 to young researchers in economic history, and their investigations published in Revista de Historia Económica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, and Investigaciones de Historia Económica since 2005.

Since 2009, new awards have been given out annually or biannually: the AEHE Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Jaume Vicens Vives Prize for the best book in the Spanish and Latin America economic history, Earl J. Hamilton Prize for the the best article published in international journal, Felipe Ruíz Martín Prize for the best article published in Spanish economic history journal, and theDocentia Prize. In addition, other awards have recently been created: best PhD, papers and posters previously presented at AEHE congresses, which will be awarded in the X Congress in Carmona (Sevilla) in September 2011.

Nowadays, the AEHE has over 400 members. and is a member of the COSCE Confederation of Scientific Societies in Spain (Confederación de Sociedades Científicas de España) and of the IEHA (International Economic History Association).

The currently Secretary General is José Miguel Martínez Carrión (University of Murcia) and the President is Paul Martin Aceña (University of Alcalá de Henares)
Address for correspondence: aeheum.es