Interpreting Lika and Krbava 1712 Census

Paper Summary:

The paper focuses on the family structures, ethnicity and religion in the regions of Lika and Krbava based on the census from 1712. This area, which today belongs to Croatia, was of extreme importance as it was on the triple border (triplex confinium) of the three mighty powers:Ottomans, Austrians and Venetians.Therefore the paper aims to reconstruct and explain by statistic and quantitative methods of the epoch.

From the Paper:

"A historical reality of Lika and Krbava regions, which belonged to the Triplex Confinium area, where the three very strong powers (the Republic of Venice, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire) met was an exceptionally complex one. The area was conquered by the Ottomans in 1527 and during the following one and a half centuries most of the inhabitants were Muslims and Vlachs, who were concentrated in strong fortresses constructed for defense in the case of attacks of the Habsburg Empire and the Republic of Venice. However, soon after the disastrous Ottoman attempted siege of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburg troops conquered several Ottoman fortresses. Consequently, in 1689, the last Ottoman fortresses in the Lika region gave up and their inhabitants left for Bosnia. During these battles, most of the population left the Lika region. Most of the Muslim population fled to the remaining Ottoman territories. The same happened with the Vlach population. They left their homes and inhabited partly the Habsburg territories and partly Venetian territories. In a meantime, during the battles, the Habsburg regular troops were being supported by the irregular ones, which also contributed to the formation of a very various ethnic/religious picture of the region. One of the irregular troops was Bunjevci of the Habsburg border regions who entered the Lika region and helped in its reconquest. Therefore, after 1683 the region was re-conquered and resettled in a somewhat irregular and unplanned manner. Having in mind that some Muslims chose to stay in the region but converted to Christianity after the withdrawal of the Ottoman troops (New Christians or Neochristians), the ethnic/religious map of the area became even more complex."

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