TOWNS, VILLAGES, DEPOPULATED SETTLEMENTS – POPULATION MOVEMENTS IN OTTOMAN HUNGARY
TOWNS, VILLAGES, DEPOPULATED SETTLEMENTS – POPULATION MOVEMENTS IN OTTOMAN HUNGARY

Summary/Abstract: The demographic history of Hungary is full with question marks, mainly due to the lack of reliable sources until the end of the 18th century. Especially, the number of the population throughout the Ottoman period (1521–1718) constituted a ‘black hole’ for a long period of time and related issues were characterized by a great number of unfounded clichés and prejudices. Identifying the best Turkish and Habsburg archival documents containing more or less detailed data on tax-payers or houses and using estimations for Transylvania where such material is missing, one can establish the total number of the population of the country at the end of the 16th century with considerable accuracy, give details about the ratios of town and village people, characterize the average number of inhabitants in rural settlements and as a whole on one km2 , the proportion of depopulated villages, the ethnic composition of certain areas and occasionally even follow migration patterns between the 1540s and 1590. Unfortunately, almost no usable registers were prepared during the 17th century; therefore this time span will always remain a terra incognita, only estimations can be ventured regarding the number of inhabitants around 1700.

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