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Karst communities at the Adriatic coast in the Franciscan cadastre
Ratkajec Hrvoje
Sažetak
The aim of the paper is to present the economy and the economic characteristics of the communities living in the area where the Karst meets the Adriatic Sea, using the Franciscan cadastre (early 19th century) as the point of departure and the primary source. The main purpose of the cadastre was to record the status of agriculture, but because the assessors wanted to gather as much information as possible, it also contains data about other economic aspects and activities. And although it was established in the early 19th century, it reflects the overall situation in the area prior to the beginning of industrialization. The selected communities in the Karst area are divided into nine cadastral municipalities belonging to two cadastral districts (Trieste and Duino) and are located in the coastal belt from Trieste to Duino respectively. For the analysis of their economies, we made use of the cadastral survey’s evaluation report, which presents the main features of each cadastral municipality, such as topography, municipal boundaries, population, livestock, rivers and other water bodies, roads, markets, types of arable land, harvests, field crops and tillage, crop quality and its value, types of landed property, houses and branches of industry. The evaluation report was the most suitable
source for this research because it covers all economic characteristics that the assessors deemed important to record and, unlike other similar evaluation reports in the cadastre, it was preserved for all municipalities, thus enabling a methodological comparison of data between the municipalities.
The analysis of these economies has shown that the agrarian activities of the inhabitants were rather well adapted to the difficult karst terrain and the harsh climate. Arable land was fenced in with stone walls, and the inhabitants regularly brought new soil to fields and removed the scattered stones. They acquired water for livestock
and for their own needs by catching and storing rainwater in ponds and cisterns. The choice of land cultivation was deliberate, as the better land was used for fields, vineyards and olive groves, while the poorer and more stony surfaces were used for pastures, meadows and forests. Due to the lack of quality soil and their desire to make better use of what was there, the inhabitants used a type of “mixed culture”, primarily fields with wine grapes but occasionally also vineyards with olive trees. The lack of other crops and also household and agricultural supplies could only obtained by trading for higher quality or more sought-after crops, such as wheat and high-quality wine (prosek), which was cultivated at the best locations by the sea. Trade was therefore an integral part of their survival strategy and a major non-agricultural activity, especially considering the favourable conditions of proximity to a large city (Trieste) and the main trade route. The principal trade products were wine, hay and wheat, to which they added those from other activities (fish from fisheries, cocoons from silkworm farming and milk and cheese from livestock husbandry).
The central complementary activity was fishing, including tuna hunting, in which the inhabitants of all municipalities immediately adjacent to the sea participated. Even in non-agrarian activities, the inhabitants strived to exploit the available resources and means, such as stone and fishing boats in the activity of “šavorantstvo” (gathering and transporting stone by sea) and stone deposits for quarrying.
Ključne riječi
Franciscan cadastre (early 19th century); Karst communities; Triest; agriculture; commerce; fishing
Hrčak ID:
131246
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.12.2014.
Posjeta: 1.092 *