Settlement patterns in the Peloponnese during the Greek Revolution: Methodological and historiographical prerequisites, research objectives and case studies
Item
Title
Settlement patterns in the Peloponnese during the Greek Revolution: Methodological and historiographical prerequisites, research objectives and case studies
List Of Authors
Spatial Coverage
Relation
Subject - keywords
Date
24 June 2021
Abstract
The study is part of the research program “Settlement Patterns in the Peloponnese during the Age of the Greek Revolution”, which was conducted in the Institute of Historical Research/National Hellenic Research Foundation and funded by the Research Centre for the Humanities (RCH) from 1 December 2017 to 30 September 2019. The research constitutes part of the large scale project “The Greek Revolution of 1821: Digital Archive” (https://www.rchumanities.gr/1821-act4greece/), coordinated by the RCH. A digital application that will contain a map and all the pertinent documentation collected during the research will be made available on http://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/inr/structure/section_b2-gr.html.
The lack of primary sources and their limited reliability, until the establishment of official censuses after the foundation of the Greek State in the 1830s, does not explain why the spatial aspects of the Greek Revolution did not receive much attention in Modern Greek Historiography.
In the mountainous and fragmented geography of the Peloponnese, space can be studied in various contexts depending on the different kinds of sources used in order to reconstruct the settlement patterns, as well as to examine the spatial distribution of the population. Thus, in European travellers’ records, before the Greek Revolution, space is closely related to the study of ancient topography and geography; in other historical documents, space is seen as a fiscal or administrative unit, while in other sources it becomes the place of a thorough scientific observation and documentation (resources, flora and fauna, population and monuments). Apart from the aforementioned aspects, within the context of this study, space is examined as an inextricable variable of the settlement patterns and it may provide new insights into the study of the Greek Revolution.
The attempt to reconstruct the residential map of the Peloponnese during the Greek Revolution was based on a series of research questions. Is it possible to verify the exact number of the Peloponnese settlements, as well as to trace the population fluctuations from the beginning until the end of the War of Independence? Moreover, can the case of the Peloponnese confirm the dominant thesis in historiography that in the Ottoman Greek peninsula a spatial distribution was based on ethnocultural criteria, that is on the one hand the Muslim city, the administrative and manufacturing centre and, on the other hand, the orthodox rural space based on agricultural production? Furthermore, from an administrative point of view, in which ways the historical sources enable us to map the boundaries of the administrative divisions of the Morea during the Greek Revolution? Consequently the research sought to contextualize the relationship between the geographical space and the spatial distribution of the population in its several aspects.
More specifically, to what extent is the traditional ethnocentric assumption that the majority of the Greek Orthodox population under ottoman rule sought refuge in the mountainous area valid in the case of the Peloponnese? Can we trace altitude zones related to certain types of settlement patterns and what is their population? Given that the plains were not deprived of population, which are the demographic characteristics of the mutual relationship between the settlements in the mountains and in the plains? Moreover, in which ways is the population density calculated in an administrative unit, as well as in a geographic area? How important are the environmental variables, such as earthquakes, erosion, fluvial activity and climate fluctuations, for the study of the settlement patterns? In addition, given that the Peloponnese underwent a revolution, how important was the impact of warfare on settlement patterns bearing in mind that the majority of the settlements affected by the repercussions of the war were not finally deserted? Can we trace new interpretations regarding the time and the causes of settlement desertion by adopting an approach based on the long duration of the demographic phenomena?
The main sources used are the travel narratives of the renowned travellers in the Peloponnese before the Revolution, William Martin Leake and François Pouqueville, both providing a starting point for the study of the population in the Morea. Moreover, three census-type sources were systematically processed during the research. The first source is a list of settlements kept at the General State Archives (Rigas Palamidis Archive). The second source is the data collected on the initiative of Ioannis Kapodistrias from 1828. Specifically, it is the population data collected by the so-called ‘Statistical Committee’, established in 1830, which carried out a mass survey on the land property and the population of the emerging state. The aforementioned data, besides its certain deficits, records for the first time the majority of Peloponnesian settlements and their population at the end of the Greek Revolution. The third source is the population census published by the French Scientific Expedition to the Morea. The members of the Morea Expedition edited the population data provided by the Greek government of Ioannis Kapodistrias, thus providing a better understanding of the population distribution in comparison to the data of the “Statistical Committee”.
Although all the aforementioned data were not systematically collected, they provide a quite sufficient knowledge of the spatial distribution of the Greek population at the end of the Revolution when compared with other sources or with the official state censuses of the 19th century. The data included in the sources usually refer to the number of the families of each settlement by administrative division. By calculating the family population mean, the total population of the Morea is estimated to be from 308,805 to 336,366 souls. It is worth noting that these numbers are approximate and reflect the minimum of the Morea population at the time.
The processing of the data on settlements demonstrates that their total number is about 2,000, while a rough classification can be made between settlements, castles and monasteries. It is worth mentioning that the definition of the settlement at that time differs from the modern one. Thus, a settlement included in the censuses did not always correspond to an inhabited place, while others corresponded to place names or to deserted settlements.
The major research objective was the identification, as well as the mapping of all the place names included in the sources. In this sense the Geographical Information Technologies (GIS) were of vital importance. The digital spatial software technologies enable the storage, the interconnection and the visualization of the collected data. Through the mapping of the settlements included in the sources, the research sheds light on the historical geography and demography of the Peloponnese during the Greek Revolution. The research concludes with some case studies, such as the mapping, for the first time in a quite accurate and thorough way, of the administrative boundaries of the divisions according to different sources before and after the revolution, the mapping of the ethnocultural distribution of Muslim and Orthodox population, and the mapping of the population size of the settlements in comparison to the peninsula’s relief.
(Edited extract from RCH website)
The lack of primary sources and their limited reliability, until the establishment of official censuses after the foundation of the Greek State in the 1830s, does not explain why the spatial aspects of the Greek Revolution did not receive much attention in Modern Greek Historiography.
In the mountainous and fragmented geography of the Peloponnese, space can be studied in various contexts depending on the different kinds of sources used in order to reconstruct the settlement patterns, as well as to examine the spatial distribution of the population. Thus, in European travellers’ records, before the Greek Revolution, space is closely related to the study of ancient topography and geography; in other historical documents, space is seen as a fiscal or administrative unit, while in other sources it becomes the place of a thorough scientific observation and documentation (resources, flora and fauna, population and monuments). Apart from the aforementioned aspects, within the context of this study, space is examined as an inextricable variable of the settlement patterns and it may provide new insights into the study of the Greek Revolution.
The attempt to reconstruct the residential map of the Peloponnese during the Greek Revolution was based on a series of research questions. Is it possible to verify the exact number of the Peloponnese settlements, as well as to trace the population fluctuations from the beginning until the end of the War of Independence? Moreover, can the case of the Peloponnese confirm the dominant thesis in historiography that in the Ottoman Greek peninsula a spatial distribution was based on ethnocultural criteria, that is on the one hand the Muslim city, the administrative and manufacturing centre and, on the other hand, the orthodox rural space based on agricultural production? Furthermore, from an administrative point of view, in which ways the historical sources enable us to map the boundaries of the administrative divisions of the Morea during the Greek Revolution? Consequently the research sought to contextualize the relationship between the geographical space and the spatial distribution of the population in its several aspects.
More specifically, to what extent is the traditional ethnocentric assumption that the majority of the Greek Orthodox population under ottoman rule sought refuge in the mountainous area valid in the case of the Peloponnese? Can we trace altitude zones related to certain types of settlement patterns and what is their population? Given that the plains were not deprived of population, which are the demographic characteristics of the mutual relationship between the settlements in the mountains and in the plains? Moreover, in which ways is the population density calculated in an administrative unit, as well as in a geographic area? How important are the environmental variables, such as earthquakes, erosion, fluvial activity and climate fluctuations, for the study of the settlement patterns? In addition, given that the Peloponnese underwent a revolution, how important was the impact of warfare on settlement patterns bearing in mind that the majority of the settlements affected by the repercussions of the war were not finally deserted? Can we trace new interpretations regarding the time and the causes of settlement desertion by adopting an approach based on the long duration of the demographic phenomena?
The main sources used are the travel narratives of the renowned travellers in the Peloponnese before the Revolution, William Martin Leake and François Pouqueville, both providing a starting point for the study of the population in the Morea. Moreover, three census-type sources were systematically processed during the research. The first source is a list of settlements kept at the General State Archives (Rigas Palamidis Archive). The second source is the data collected on the initiative of Ioannis Kapodistrias from 1828. Specifically, it is the population data collected by the so-called ‘Statistical Committee’, established in 1830, which carried out a mass survey on the land property and the population of the emerging state. The aforementioned data, besides its certain deficits, records for the first time the majority of Peloponnesian settlements and their population at the end of the Greek Revolution. The third source is the population census published by the French Scientific Expedition to the Morea. The members of the Morea Expedition edited the population data provided by the Greek government of Ioannis Kapodistrias, thus providing a better understanding of the population distribution in comparison to the data of the “Statistical Committee”.
Although all the aforementioned data were not systematically collected, they provide a quite sufficient knowledge of the spatial distribution of the Greek population at the end of the Revolution when compared with other sources or with the official state censuses of the 19th century. The data included in the sources usually refer to the number of the families of each settlement by administrative division. By calculating the family population mean, the total population of the Morea is estimated to be from 308,805 to 336,366 souls. It is worth noting that these numbers are approximate and reflect the minimum of the Morea population at the time.
The processing of the data on settlements demonstrates that their total number is about 2,000, while a rough classification can be made between settlements, castles and monasteries. It is worth mentioning that the definition of the settlement at that time differs from the modern one. Thus, a settlement included in the censuses did not always correspond to an inhabited place, while others corresponded to place names or to deserted settlements.
The major research objective was the identification, as well as the mapping of all the place names included in the sources. In this sense the Geographical Information Technologies (GIS) were of vital importance. The digital spatial software technologies enable the storage, the interconnection and the visualization of the collected data. Through the mapping of the settlements included in the sources, the research sheds light on the historical geography and demography of the Peloponnese during the Greek Revolution. The research concludes with some case studies, such as the mapping, for the first time in a quite accurate and thorough way, of the administrative boundaries of the divisions according to different sources before and after the revolution, the mapping of the ethnocultural distribution of Muslim and Orthodox population, and the mapping of the population size of the settlements in comparison to the peninsula’s relief.
(Edited extract from RCH website)
Type specialization
Format
Text
Language
Bibliographic Citation
Number Of Pages - Duration
79
Rights
All Rights Reserved
note
Part of RCH's series "Digital Library 1821".
Linked resources
Filter by property
Position: 7249 (22 views)