Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/mwo1vc5qly
The Parish of Orah Near Vrgorac: Birth Rhythm on the Imperial Border in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century
Vlado Pavičić
orcid.org/0000-0001-8476-5913
Abstract
This article focuses on the population analysis of the Parish of Orah near Vrgorac in the latter half of the eighteenth century, undertaken within the broader historical-demographic research of the Vrgorac Krajina, an agrarian community in which the military defence of the Venetian Republic was organised on the frontier with the Ottoman Empire. The data from the baptismal parish register have been computer processed and analysed, emphasis being placed on certain vital demographic indicators. Diachronic population trend of the micro-community under study is used as a frame within which specifi c demographic processes are observed, while the dynamics of the demographic patterns are reconstructed through the analysis of the number of baptisms by lineage, settlement and gender, by monthly and annual distribution of baptisms and conceptions, anthroponymic structure, establishment of social networks and the general issue of the openness of this rural micro-community. The article also highlights the birth of twins and children born out of wedlock. Special attention is paid to the seasonality of conception, with focus on the social factor related to the life indoors during cold seasons with regard to unfavourable intimacy conditions. A historical comparison of these results with those obtained by similar analysis of other areas, notably of the Dinaric Alps, suggests a striking similarity or even full correspondence with the relevant trends and patterns.
Keywords
Dalmatia; Orah; Vrgorac; baptismal parish register; historical demography; population
Hrčak ID:
181201
URI
Publication date:
11.5.2017.
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