Immigration et Sociogenèse au Monde Urbain de la Principauté de Moldavie (1800-1860)
Immigration and Sociogenesis in the Urban World of the Moldovan Principality (1800-1860)

Summary/Abstract: The present study aims to present the dimensions of urban migration alongside its socio-economic effects on Moldova’s society in the first half of the nineteenth century. Thus, the migration was a socio-genesis phenomenon, maybe one of the most important ones in the history of the Principalities in the nineteenth century. Apart from the economic impact of immigration, which is hard to define, in this moment it is well-known that the extraordinary expansion of towns in that period was mainly due to immigration. The population of Moldova grew at a much faster rhythm than that of the neighboring countries, especially in the urban areas. Not only do new towns appear (at one point at the speed of two per year!), but we also see a growth in occupations and economic activities. Urban migration is a part of the general urban dynamics. The most important fact is the birth of a new urban society, a multi-cultural and relatively opened one. Economically this new world depends on immigrants. The role they play explains the absence, at least for the moment, of any discussions about radical exclusion and functional discrimination of the newcomers. At the same time it is difficult to compare the evolution of urban communities from Eastern Europe with what happened in the West. In Central and Western Europe, the spread of urbanization was based on industrialization and internal mobility. In Moldova, at least in the period we are discussing, urbanization depended on migration tides while immigration was foreign, civilly but also culturally. Many of the new towns apparently under the influence of a new wave of migrants were just transit towns. There were maximum five destination cities, which can be considered the towns of a gravitational migration: Jassy, Galaţi, Bacău, Botoşani and Roman. This fact, along with the persistence of the medieval guilds, probably stopped the birth of what could be called urban ‘middle classes” and lead to a difficulty in creating an individual urban ethos. Thus the town could not become an autonomous political place. The town grew chaotically, lacking adequate public policies and discussions.

• Details
• Contents