The demographic evolution of the Romanians from the Apuseni Mountains between the 18-20th centuries
Autor: Dominuţ Pădurean
This study analyses the demographic situation in the Ţara Moţilor between the 17th and 20th centuries.
The survey data reveal that the Western Mountains were the most populated mountains in Romania and within this area, Ţara Moţilor was the most populated Romanian mountain area.
This hallmark area in the history of Transylvania characterized by a high rate of natality and families with many children – these being the primary wealth of the area and not the gold as one may think at first sight !- was indeed a demographic “reservoir” for the adjacent and more remote areas of Transylvania in particular, and Romania in general.
This area with a Romanian population as majority, has been characterized by the fact that most of the towns and villages have had a 100 % Romanian population.
Further on, the author analyses the demographic “techniques” used by the foreign authorities that ruled Transylvania temporarily: the demographic evasion between 1652-1918, the running away of the Ţara Moţilor inhabitants from their native county (1691-1918), deportation of the Ţara Moţilor inhabitants after the uprising in 1784, the massive emigrations from the area and the colonization of the Ţara Moţilor inhabitants after 1918, the depopulation of the area in the last decades of the 20th centures etc.