Senglea 1586-1744 : an historical demographic analysis

Abstract

A concurring vein of this dissertation has been to show and bring to mind an image of what Senglea had been before. Nevertheless, to form a picture of what Senglea really looked like, one had to become familiar with the people who lived in the city itself This is after all, the utmost thought behind the writing of this dissertation. To reach this aim, necessitated a painstaking study of the baptism, marriage, and death records held in the city. All these give insights on population change in the past Information about population is collected into two mam ways : by enumeration at a point in time and by recording events as they occur over a period. Censuses and the book of the Status Animarum are examples of the first method and birth registrations, deaths and marriages are examples of the second. The time chosen for this study was from 1586 to 1744. These dates were chosen with a purpose. The date of commencement occurs with the beginning of the writing of the records. Thus, the reader is able to trace from Senglea's beginning in 1586, to sec the demographic development until the mid eighteenth century when the city had reached a point of saturation. The year of cessation was 1744, as this was the year in which a status animarum was compiled and this helps to give a clearer picture of the situation, and the composition of families.