Page 206 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Aleksej Kalc

tion of the Povir parish experienced more significant growth than that of
the Tomaj parish from the 1820s to the late 1860s. This difference became
even more pronounced from the 1870s onwards. However, the growth of
the Povir area in the latter period was primarily driven by Sežana and Di-
vača. Sežana developed as an administrative and commercial centre, while
Divača became a hub for railway transportation. The other villages of the
Povir parish experienced the same slow growth or stagnation as those of
Tomaj. This is also evident from housing statistics: in both the Tomaj and
Povir parishes, the number of houses increased by only 11 and 14 percent,
respectively, from the 1870s. The bulk of new constructions occurred in
Sežana and Divača, where the number of houses had surged by 90 percent
and 105 percent, respectively, between 1869 and 1910 (Orts-Repertorium
von Triest und Gebiet, Görz, Gradisca und Istrien 1873; Spezialortsrepertori-
um der österreichischen Länder 1918).
The situation was markedly different in the eleven villages of the Karst
region within the municipality of Trieste. Benefitting from the improved
road network and the advantages of being closer to the city and adminis-
tratively part of the municipality of Trieste, the population here was better
positioned to capitalize on opportunities, both in agricultural and non-
agrarian sectors, intertwined with the urban economy. Consequently, the
population of these Triestine villages grew by more than three quarters
from the1820s to thelate1860s,andthis demographic growth remained
significant from the 1870s to 1910, with a 28 percent increase (Kalc 2018,
165). The number of houses also saw a corresponding increase, expanding
fourfold compared to the villages of the Tomaj and Povir parishes. Howev-
er, development in this area was uneven and closely tied to the evolution
of the road network. Settlements located along both old and, especially,
new roads constructed during the nineteenth century experienced more
significant growth. This growth was facilitated by catering, commercial,
transport, and craft activities. In contrast, areas with less favourable in-
tegration into urban labour and the wider economic market saw slower
development, as they did not yield as much in terms of combined income
from agrarian and non-agrarian economic sources (Kalc 2017). The effects
of increased interaction with the urban economy, facilitated by shorter dis-
tances, improved transport connections, and the higher market value of
local agriculture, were also noticeable in the villages of the so-called Breg,
the northernmost area of Istria bordering the territory of the municipality
of Trieste. By the 1870s, development in this region resembled that of the
areas of Tomaj and Povir, with a population increase of 7.5 percent between

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