Dimitropoulou Myrto
Université Lumière Lyon 2
Type: Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to study the town of Athens, a new city and capital of the 19th century. More precisely I try to analyze the demographic behaviors for the period 1860 - 1910 as well as the hierarchy of the professions. The period that I study is a period of strong growth rates of the population of the capital, which during half-century gains on average more than 2.000 inhabitants per year. Thanks to these intense migratory movements the population of the city passes from 43.000 inhabitants in 1860 to 175.000 in 1907. The composition and the evolution of the socio-professional groups of the Athenian society are the main object of this thesis in order to observe the social segregation in the space of the city. This research is registered in the problematic of the social history such as developed in French historiography. For that, I used four primary sources: the city records of death and marriage certificates (that exists only from 1859), notarial acts, the Guide of Greece of Igglessis of 1905 and the statistic tables of the censuses carried out from 1861 until 1907.The statistical analysis of the death certificates reveals that the percentage of infantile deaths compared to the total number of deaths remains at high levels and stable (26%) during the studied period. Our study thus does not confirm the assertions according to which infant mortality starts to decrease from the 1860’s. On the contrary the important change relates to the reduction of the rate of children deaths.The socio-professional analysis of the Athenian society reveals a productive Mediterranean capital –city. A productivity, which is based on small artisanal units that cover the basic needs for consumption of a population under development. The cost of the rent - and not of the food- is very high and this seems to be one of the primary reasons, which lead the popular layers to give up the center of the city. The study of the space segregation within the small young capital showed that the elite in addition to the center settles towards the quarters at the north of the city.

 

Key words: Demographic behaviors; mortality; Athens; hierarchy of professions; social segregation; social history; urban history; socioprofessional categories; rents.