Overview

At the core of this book stands the question whether a strong presence of cottage industry in a region influences population development in that region in general and the family formation processes of those directly involved in the industry in particular. This hypothesis, represented in the theories of proto-industrialization, is examined in nineteenth century Twente, a region in the east of the Netherlands which experienced a phase of intensifying cottage industry after 1830, and which switched over to factory industry after 1860. To this end, the populations of two communities, Borne and Wierden, were investigated with respect to their marriage and fertility behaviour. Both communities took part in the upsurge in cottage industry after 1830. However, after 1860 their paths began to diverge. Whilst Borne participated in the transition from cottage industry to factory industry, in Wierden this was much less the case. In spite of these structural changes in the local and regional economies, there are no clear indications that the populations of Borne and Wierden responded demographically to these developments. On the contrary, it turns out that in both communities, marriage behaviour and fertility remained largely untouched by the economic changes and developments of the nineteenth century. Moreover, it is observed that there are no significant differences between occupational groups: on the whole, weavers and peasants married at comparable ages and their families were of comparable sizes. It is argued that this was mainly due tot the phenomenon that throughout the nineteenth century, in Twente agriculture and (proto-)industry both played an important role in the family economy. This prevented families in both sectors to a large extent from a total dependency on either industrial or agrarian employment, and led to a similar demographic behaviour.

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