Abstract

Although most people in the past lived in agrarian communities, premodern rural migration has long been a neglected subject within the field of migration history. The aim of this study is to enhance our knowledge of rural household migration in premodern Europe. It is based on the Älvsborg lösen taxation records, in which household migration data was registered for the Swedish population during a fiveyear period at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The study focuses on rural household migration rates, distances and destinations. It shows that 5 per cent of rural households in Sweden moved annually, with about two-thirds of these being ‘local’ migrants, which is consistent with what has previously been reported for other European regions. Migration was consequentially not only part of the life-course of most individuals, but also of great importance for the rural economy and societies in premodern Europe.

Keywords

rural migration; social mobility; Premodern Europe; social and economic history; historical demography; archaeology

Published in

Journal of migration history
2022, Volume: 8, number: 2, pages: 156-172

SLU Authors

• Andersson, Martin

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

History
Economic History
Human Geography


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/23519924-08020002

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/117492