Prilog poznavanju demografske slike osječkoga Gornjega grada u XVIII. stoljeću
A contribution to recognizing the demographic picture of the Upper town of Osijek in the XVIII century

Summary/Abstract: The Upper town is a settlement formed in late 17th century that developed from, besides legal, almost no other foundations. Therefore, it is particularly interesting for tracking demographic trends. That is, starting with only several hundred inhabitants that formed the settlement, the Upper town soon grew to be a significant locality in Slavonia. As there was no census at a time when the Upper town functioned as a separate market town, we had to seek interpretations from different sources. The most suitable proved to be the Imperial chamber registers that consistently listed only taxpayers or the heads of the household and canon visitations that due to the paucity of their practice served as a corrective element. By combining these two sources we discern the basic guidelines for determining population trends and an approximate number of the Upper town inhabitants. The obtained tendencies aimed at great increase in the number of inhabitants that is characteristic for the entire analyzed period, with the exception of two significant oscillations due to plague epidemic. The explanation for this great rise in the number of inhabitants should be sought in great immigration processes that were undoubtedly unvarying since population trends were leaning towards depopulation.

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