CITIZENS OF SPLIT BEYOND SPLIT

Tijekom 19. i 20. stoljeća u prekomorske se krajeve osim stanovnika dalmatinskih otoka i Zagore često iseljavalo i gradsko stanovništvo. Autorica donosi spoznaje o iseljenim Splićanima na osnovi postojećih popisa hrvatskih iseljenika širom svijeta i splitskih matica rođenih.Emigration from Croatia began in the 19th c. for economic reasons. It was most intense in Dalmatia, which from 1899-1920 saw an exile of 40,000 people. Those who left were mostly farmers or unskilled workers, 18-30 years old who exiled to South and North America, Australia and New Zealand. Most of them were from the Dalmatian islands or villages and it was long considered that only individuals emigrated from urban centers. There are truly very few citizens of Split in South America, Australia and New Zealand but there are very many of them in the United States. As all boats coming to North America landed at Ellis Island in front of New York City where systematic evidence was kept from 1892 to 1924, we are able to learn about the number of citizens of Split arriving there. The lists were made by hand and many errors occurred. Also, not all who were entered on the list as citizens of Split were found in the Register of Birth in Split. Some claimed to be born in Spalato, Spljet or Split while others claimed Veli Varoš or Lučac as their place of birth. Split was most often referred to as being in Austria, rarely Hungary, and later in the SHS or Yugoslavia. The year of 1907 was unsurpassable by the number of citizens who exiled from Split. Most of them were born in 1880, they were between 20 and 30 years old while one third of them were women