Starting a family in another land : spaniards in Malta, 1580s to 1640s

Abstract

Demographers are confronted with considerable difficulties when they set about studying family structures. This paper will seek to show that the behaviour of Spanish migrants in Malta in the early modern period conforms to the migratory patterns evident elsewhere. The term ‘migrant’ is here understood as referring to a person who changes his habitual place of residence in a more or less permanent form by crossing an administrative boundary. A key marker of a permanent move to a new land is marriage and the starting of a family there.