Tržaški teritorij v luči konskripcije iz let 1777/1778 : prvi izsledki

Kalc, Aleksej

SLO

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Title:	Tržaški teritorij v luči konskripcije iz let 1777/1778 : prvi izsledki
Authors:	ID Kalc, Aleksej (Author)
Files:	http://www.dlib.si/details/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-GPKMSWT6
Language:	Slovenian
Work type:	Not categorized
Typology:	1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:	UPR - University of Primorska
Abstract:	The aim of this article is to provide an insight into the socio-demographic structure of the Trieste Territory, i.e. the rural part of the Trieste municipal area, at the end of the 1770s, when this area was affected by major changes brought about by the rapid development of the Trieste maritime emporium. The presentation is based on a statistical analysis of population registers formed during military conscription at the end of 1777 and at the beginning of 1778. The Territory consisted of two parts: the area of residential neighbourhoods extending across flysch and alluvial soil around the city between the sea and the Karst Edge, and the area of villages occupying mostly karstic terrain. The villages were concentrated rural settlements with allocated land managed by landowners, whereas the settlement tissue in the neighbourhoods was comprised of groups of houses and scattered farms owned mostly by city dwellers (the old patriciate and new economy upstarts) with land ownership increasingly transferred also to tenant-farmers. Although the land below the Karst Edge was fertile, due to its steepness farming was difficult and expensive, which is why the main product -wine - was protected against foreign competition. In general, the karstic soil was poor and with the exception of modest arable crops used mainly for stockbreeding. In the conscription census, the population of the Territory was 5.366 and it was condensed in the north-eastern part, where the largest of the 12 villages were located and in some of the 12 neighbourhoods, where, due to better farming conditions and available land, colonization was spreading. Following the trend of the time, the age pyramid of the men-dominated population was broad-based, fuelled by high natality rates. In time, the pyramid was rapidly narrowed due to a high mortality rate among children. The relatively young age of newlyweds accompanied by a favourable attitude towards marriage contributed to high natality rates; the percentage of celibacy was minimal. This was connected with favourable opportunities of land access and availability of non-agrarian economic sources in the city or in connection with the city economy. The social structure of the peasant population and the spatial distribution of rural social subcategories were in close connection with the colonization history and ownership structure of the Territory. Most farmers (63.1%) were landowners, enjoying permanent and hereditary landownership. Over one fifth (21.6%) were tenant-farmers having the owners' (city dwellers) lands at their disposal for indefinite time against payment of annual rent, including the right of heirship as well as the right to sell the enjoyment of property or buy the land. 15.3% of the farmers were sharecroppers, i.e. colonists who shared the production expenses and crops with the owner, and the rest were peasants living on the farm and cultivating it as servants under the owner's management. Landowners were concentrated in villages, while farmer-tenants, colonists and independently residing servants lived in the neighbourhoods. The numbers of tenants was increasing and in the following decades they would gain ownership of the land they had been cultivating. Male and female farm servants (including the independently residing ones) accounted for 5.5% of the population. The serfs and maids living under the same roof with the farmers were ubiquitous, but present predominantly in the neighbourhoods where it often happened that the lease-holding families did not have enough native-born labour force to cultivate the farm land. Most of the servants were immigrants and serving was generally a phase of the life cycle, followed by marriage and economic independence. Census data show only few non-agrarian occupations in the Territory (8,6% of the population). These were clergy, innkeepers, guards, tailors and blacksmiths and a few other occupational profiles. This situation failed to reflect the actual non-agrarian economic activity in the Territory itself or in the nearby city. On the basis of other documents it is evident that many men were also engaged in masonry, transportation and occasional hardmanual labour on public building sites. Another widespread activity in the coastal towns was fishing and in the following century it would become the main economic resource for many families. In the village Skedenj, which was closest to the city, baking and selling bread expanded as a typically female craft; there were many cases of individuals or groups of farmers entrepreneurially engaged in works such as street cleaning and rubbish removal or maintaining roads and public infrastructure. In time these activities, together with the possibilities of selling crops, would also contribute to improving the living structure in the Territory, where apart from better farm houses also an increasing number of city magnates began emerging. The moderate immigration stemmed mostly from the immediate neighbourhood surrounding the Trieste municipal territory, although there were also many immigrants from remoter places. In addition to guards (predominantly foreigners) and a few craftsmen, immigrants were mostly servants of both genders. The phenomenon of immigration was therefore of predominantly individual character and would in most cases progress into permanent settlement of newcomers through marriage and formation of new family households. This was enabled by the availability of farm land and a growing inclination of the city-dwelling owners towards leasing their land. Due to workforce shortage, during summer farm-work seasons many seasonal workers from the nearby karst areas would come to the Territory. Emigration from the Territory into the city was modest since the inhabitants of the Territory were able to take advantage of the economic possibilities of the city without having to leave their homes.
Keywords:	Trst, kmečko prebivalstvo, družbena struktura, 18.st., konskripcija
Publisher:	Centro di ricerche scientifiche della Repubblica di Slovenia
Year of publishing:	2009
Number of pages:	str. 59-88
Numbering:	Letn. 19, št. 1
PID:	20.500.12556/RUP-4956
ISSN:	1408-5348
UDC:	314:351.755(450.361)"17"
COBISS.SI-ID:	1638099
Publication date in RUP:	10.07.2015
Views:	2913
Downloads:	35
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