Wykorzystanie metryk parafialnych i dokumentów stanu cywilnego do oszacowania liczby ludności według kategorii społeczno-demograficznych (na przykładzie Martyniki)

Abstract

A proper utilization of historical documents for reconstruction of the past population development still produces serious methodological problems for a researcher. The elaboration exemplifies a proper solution of these problems. From 1699 to 1822 nine censuses of the Martinique population were carried out. The author aims at expressing an opinion of their quality by comparing them with population movement. It was derived from a specification made by drawing every twentieth person from parish registers and registry records. These registers are almost without gaps since the year 1763. The white population is characterized by a great number of illegitimate birth. Age of contraction of marriages is rather advanced. Marriages give often opportunity to own children. Children's deaths are irregularly registered. Deaths of adults permite to appraise migration significance from Europe. Magnitudes for the coloured are much more uncertain, because persons with light skin were taken as white population in censuses, while their children were reckoned among the colored. For ethnic categories were revealed quiet frequently in parish registers and registry records, a judgement can be formed on significance of races blending during seven of ten examined decades.