Συγκριτική ανάλυση των βιολογικών και κοινωνικών δομών απομονωμένων πληθυσμών του Ν. Ροδόπης

Abstract

This study is focused on the demographic and genealogical history of # mountainous population, the Pomaks of Rodopi. Two administrative communities were studied, named Organi and Kehros. Respectively, they are located 40 and 70 Km away of Komotini, the capital of the Department of Rodopi in Greek Thrace. People are Muslims and they speak their own dialect. The economy of the area is confined to the primary sector of production and it can be characterized as pre-industrial. Raw data were collected concerning the natural movement of the population, the demographic characteristics of the marriage system, immigration, emigration and the genealogical history of each member of the population. The pedigrees of the population were constructed and genealogical and demographic analysis took place. In the last case special emphasis was given to the demographic transition of the population. The results were compared with other local, regional or ethnic populations. After World War II a major fertility transition took place concerning both period and cohort rates. In the same manner, the fertility of the marriages declines too. The marriage in this population is universal. Age at marriage of the grooms and the brides did not change substantially during time. On the contrary the age of the mother at her last child and the reproductive span decrease through time. As a result, between the marriage cohorts, the average number of births per mother and the final family size decline too. Mortality, and especially infant mortality, was quite high during 50s and 60s. With time, expectation of life at birth is improved and infant mortality diminishes. Fertility transition correlates positively with infant mortality transition. Later on, fertility transition is a result of the major sociocultural and economic transformations that took place in Pomaks society. Also some genealogical characteristics of the population were studied like territorial exogamy, mate exchanges and the marriages between relatives.