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Aleksej Kalc
Table 7.4
Year Population Annual growth
Population Number and Annual Growth rate (% )
Rate in the Tomaj Curacy
Notes Based on data from .
Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen –.
Länder 1918; Cenčič 2013.
–.
–.
–.
Second World War, the demography experienced the repercussions of al-
tered national borders and the transition to the Yugoslav state and social-
ist socio-political order. The new national border cut the area off from its
historical centre of gravity, Trieste, incorporating it into the newly concep-
tualized regional framework of western Slovenia, with Nova Gorica, Kop-
er, and Sežana emerging as new centres. As part of the Iron Curtain, the
Yugoslav-Italian border was heavily fortified, and mobility was severely re-
stricted until the gradual opening to local populations and small-scale bor-
der traffic inthelatterhalfofthe 1950s.
Despite the nuances we have outlined thus far, the demographic trends
within the Tomaj area align closely with the broader population evolution
over the extensive historical period under examination. It mirrors the pre-
dominant characteristics of the wider Karst area, with the notable excep-
tion of the karstic portion of Trieste’s municipal territory, which, as pre-
viously mentioned, exhibited unique behaviours due to its closer and dis-
tinct interrelation with urban economic and social dynamics. Regarding
demographic factors, the population development in Tomaj can be delin-
eated into two distinct periods. Initially, until the mid-nineteenth century,
it was primarily influenced by natural growth determinants. Subsequently,
migration, particularly emigration, exerted a crucial impact.
Natural Determinants of Growth: Natality and Mortality
Population growth from the eighteenth century onward, following the de-
mographic crisis of the seventeenth century, resulted from increased na-
tality and its sustained excess over mortality in the long term. The absence
of censuses and incomplete birth and death data series for the seventeenth
century, and to some extent the eighteenth century, renders it impossible
to accurately quantify this phenomenon or present it in terms of birth and
death rates. However, the positive trend is evident in the balance between
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