Gentes e Espacos (em torno da populacao portuguesa na primeira metado do seculo XVI)

The volume which corresponds to the dissertation itself is divided in three books, with the following titles: Book I - the assessment of the population; Book II - marks of the population growth; Book III - consequences of the population growth. Objectives: From the end of the 15th century on the Royal Chancellary records show a growth of the population, first under the general terms of 'growth' or 'multiplication' of people then quantifying it more precisely. These signs of the population growth were used, either to demend or to illustrate a new administration, new civil servants and new areas in the fields of civil and religious adminitrations. Such records allow, on one way, to quantify, sometimes quite absolutely, the population growth, expressed by family nuclei or units (registered both with the words vizinho, inhabitants and fogo, hearth) for example, Campo Maior in Alentejo had 450 'dwellers' in 1502, 600 'inhabitants' in 1521 and 664 'hearths' in 1527, terms which although they were not regorously equivalent, were demographically almost alike-and, on the other, prove that growth trend was general throught the country. Conscious of this growth, the Crown had to face it and to reorganize it. Yet, before a general administrative reform was implemented, it ordered and accurate and effective census of the country's population, to permit a real knowledge of its geographical distribution. Our study was based upon all these factors. We tried to show their connections and to understand how the real force behind the rise of the modern Portuguese State was mainly the population growth during the late 15th and the early 16th centuries. The dissertation volume is complemented by and appendix, where all the local administrative units in 1532 are registered, as well as by a general map of the country where they are marked. Two other volumes were added to this dissertation: one transcribing the 1527-32 census data related ro the procince of Entre-Douro-e-Minho and the other related to the province of Odiana. All the place-names are identified according to their present location (for example: the hamlet which was called quinta de Martim Afonso in the commandery and town of Alhos Vedros in 1532, nowadays corresponds to Rosario, village of Moita (Our Lady of Boa Viagem), parish and municipality of Moita. Ancient municipalities are delimited on present mapsAvailable from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Servico de Informacao e Documentacao, Av. D. Carlos I, 126, 1200 Lisboa / FCT - Fundação para o Ciência e a TecnologiaSIGLEPTPortuga