Page 15 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 15
the integrated peasant economy as a concept in progress
the confrontation and comparison among the authors and their case stud-
ies presented in this volume.1
1. Long-run characters and trends in the peasant economy
in Slovenia
One of the most prominent features in the economic history of the Slove-
nian countryside is the widespread phenomenon of “peasant trade” and,
more generally, the integration of agricultural income sources with non-
-agricultural ones, and of on-farm activities with off-farm ones. We may
observe a great diffusion and a large variety of activities in which peasants
were involved, even compared with much larger Alpine and western Eu-
ropean areas (Table 1.4). In the Early Modern Slovenian provinces peasant
farms were mostly small, due to the process of fragmentation and creati-
on of new units. Given also the unfavourable conditions for agriculture on
the Alpine, Subalpine and karstic terrain that cover a great part of the cen-
tral and western Slovenian area, it is reasonable to assume that the majori-
ty of the peasant population could not make their living from agriculture
alone. In fact, both contemporary sources and historiographical literatu-
re show that the Slovenian peasant population intensively recurred to non-
-agricultural activities and sources of income. Already J. W. Valvasor in
his monumental description of the Duchy of Carniola (1689) mentioned
the peasants’ need to obtain incomes from outside their farms as one of
the striking economic and social characteristics of the region. According
to Ferdo Gestrin (1991), as early as 1552 the provincial estates of the Duchy
claimed that in Carniola and the Karst (central and south-western Slove-
nia) in particular the peasants could not remain on their farms if they were
not active in trade and transport activities. In proving the importance that
non-agricultural income had for the peasant population, it is also relevant
1 This book is a result of the research carried out in the frame of the project Integra-
ted peasant economy in Slovenia in a comparative perspective (16th–19th centuries), fi-
nanced by the Research Agency of Slovenia – ARRS (2014–2017), at the Faculty for
Humanities of the University of Primorska, partners the Institute for Contempora-
ry History in Ljubljana (Žarko Lazarević) and the Milko Kos Historical Institute of
the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Matjaž Bizjak),
foreign partners the International Association for Alpine History, Alessio Fornasin
(Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine), Jesper Larsson (De-
partment of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Luigi Loren-
zetti (Laboratory of Alps History LabiSAlp, USI – Italian Swiss University), and Luca
Mocarelli (Department of Economics, Managenment and Statistics, University of
Milano Bicocca).
13
the confrontation and comparison among the authors and their case stud-
ies presented in this volume.1
1. Long-run characters and trends in the peasant economy
in Slovenia
One of the most prominent features in the economic history of the Slove-
nian countryside is the widespread phenomenon of “peasant trade” and,
more generally, the integration of agricultural income sources with non-
-agricultural ones, and of on-farm activities with off-farm ones. We may
observe a great diffusion and a large variety of activities in which peasants
were involved, even compared with much larger Alpine and western Eu-
ropean areas (Table 1.4). In the Early Modern Slovenian provinces peasant
farms were mostly small, due to the process of fragmentation and creati-
on of new units. Given also the unfavourable conditions for agriculture on
the Alpine, Subalpine and karstic terrain that cover a great part of the cen-
tral and western Slovenian area, it is reasonable to assume that the majori-
ty of the peasant population could not make their living from agriculture
alone. In fact, both contemporary sources and historiographical literatu-
re show that the Slovenian peasant population intensively recurred to non-
-agricultural activities and sources of income. Already J. W. Valvasor in
his monumental description of the Duchy of Carniola (1689) mentioned
the peasants’ need to obtain incomes from outside their farms as one of
the striking economic and social characteristics of the region. According
to Ferdo Gestrin (1991), as early as 1552 the provincial estates of the Duchy
claimed that in Carniola and the Karst (central and south-western Slove-
nia) in particular the peasants could not remain on their farms if they were
not active in trade and transport activities. In proving the importance that
non-agricultural income had for the peasant population, it is also relevant
1 This book is a result of the research carried out in the frame of the project Integra-
ted peasant economy in Slovenia in a comparative perspective (16th–19th centuries), fi-
nanced by the Research Agency of Slovenia – ARRS (2014–2017), at the Faculty for
Humanities of the University of Primorska, partners the Institute for Contempora-
ry History in Ljubljana (Žarko Lazarević) and the Milko Kos Historical Institute of
the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Matjaž Bizjak),
foreign partners the International Association for Alpine History, Alessio Fornasin
(Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Udine), Jesper Larsson (De-
partment of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences), Luigi Loren-
zetti (Laboratory of Alps History LabiSAlp, USI – Italian Swiss University), and Luca
Mocarelli (Department of Economics, Managenment and Statistics, University of
Milano Bicocca).
13
