Page 220 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Aleksej Kalc

under Yugoslav rule, some Tomajans opted to relocate to Trieste, then un-
der Anglo-American military administration, or to Italy. Subsequently, in
the 1950s, many resumed overseas migration, particularly to Canada and
Australia. These migrations were motivated by dire economic conditions
and uncertain prospects, exacerbated by restricted economic ties with Tri-
este following border regulation, as well as a distrust of the socialist social
order.
Emigration from the Tomaj curacy was evenly distributed according to
the population of individual villages. Men (51.5 percent) were more in-
clined to migrate to distant destinations like America, whereas women
tended to relocate to Trieste and other nearby areas in greater numbers.
Before the First World War, this gender asymmetry reflected the differ-
ent labour markets, which predominantly attracted male workers to indus-
trial centres, while rapidly expanding cities like Trieste offered abundant
job opportunities for women. Following the First and Second World Wars,
changes in the nature and conditions of emigration led to an increase in
the number of female emigrants even to transatlantic destinations, while
between the wars a significantly higher number of men than women mi-
grated to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Among emigrants to Trieste, as in
previous historical phases, 80 percent of Tomajans of both sexes settled
in the city, while the remainder found homes in surrounding, increasingly
urbanized, suburban neighbourhoods.

Concluding Remarks
To conclude, considering the demographic features of Tomaj over the cen-
turies, we can distinguish three phases of development. The first phase,
stretching from the seventeenth to the early eighteenth century, was char-
acterized by population stagnation resulting from fluctuating natural de-
mographic factors and fragile positive growth. Between the 1720s and the
mid-nineteenth century, a period of sustained population increase ensued,
despite occasional stagnation and decline. This growth was supported by
the predominance of natality, which surpassed the still-frequent mortal-
ity peaks, ensuring a positive long-term growth balance. The third peri-
od, from the 1870s onwards, was marked by another phase of stagnation,
though distinct in nature from that of the seventeenth century. Natural
balance was not compromised by lacking demographic vitality, as the birth
rate remained fairly vigorous until the First World War, and the mortality
rate declined more sharply. What determined the stagnation was emigra-
tion, which emerged as a prominent structural phenomenon of the mod-

218