KINZL,HANS AND THE INNSBRUCK-SCHOOL-OF-PO PULATION-GEOGRAPHY

Inspired by F. ULMER'S (1935/1942) studies of rural exodus, H. WOPFNER and H. KINZL (University of Innsbruck) started examining population p roblems in the Alpine mountainous areas using parish registers as a so urce for profound studies of some demographic-biological problems. Sup ervised by H. KINZL himself and his successors at the Geographical Ins titute, about 50 undergraduates wrote papers on this subject, having c ollected more than 1.3 million records of marriages, births and deaths in 180 communes in western Austria. H. KINZL (1898-1979) had intended to publish a summary of this research work, but did not realize his p lan. Consequently only a small portion of his extensive life's work ca n be found in various publications, mainly in the ''Geographische Jahr esberichte aus Osterreich'' and the ''Bergbauernbuch'' (H. WOPFNER 195 1/ 1960). In 1973 H. BOBEK and in 1975 E. LICHTENBERGER praised the In nsbruck school of population geography but did not provide a synthesis . In the 1992-1994 period the present author published a few studies i n the ''Tiroler Chronist'' that were later used by E. STEINICKE (1996) in his paper on teaching and research into population geography in In nsbruck. Whereas the early papers by undergraduates show a rather unre flected approach to the sources, later papers increasingly take a more critical view as to the value of the sources. Nevertheless, on the wh ole the papers convey a correct picture of the rural society from the 17th up to the 19th century. No first marriage in church was possible without the consent of the independent communes, and permission was on ly granted if sufficient means for keeping a family could be presumed. Therefore, marriage age was high (33 years for men, 30 for women - so metimes even 40 and 35) because normally couples had to wait until aft er the death of their parents before being able to marry. The average fertile period was 14 years with 5,5 births, the mortality rate of chi ldren up to the age of 5 was 24% and maternal mortality 1.5%. In spite of a surplus in the number of births during the past 300 years the po pulation figure remained stable. A study of the balance of births and deaths suggests that one fourth of all children born emigrated later o n, thus preventing overcrowding. There is no demographic difference be tween the western area with a division of properties (based on Roman l aw) and the eastern area with ''indivisible'' farms (based on German l aw). In the west only 5% of the children were illegitimate as illegiti macy was disapproved of not only by the community and the church but b y the families living on small farms as well. In the east, the illegit imacy rate is at least 10%, regionally even 50%, as divorces were proh ibited, a sort of insurance for possible infertility of the brides and the need for labour on large farms. Relief and traffic conditions lim ited the range of marriages. In the main valleys, marriages between pe rsons related by blood at 2nd and 3rd degree amount to less than 1%, w hereas in isolated valleys high up the proportion is almost 30%. In th e 19th century, the avarage interval between births dropped from 26 to 17 months and infant mortality rose to 30% or more, probably caused b y a worsening of the agricultural conditions, more work for women and the giving up of breastfeeding. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries t he number of deaths caused by diseases seems to be ten times greater t han that caused by natural hazards (inundations, avalanches, landslide s, debris-flows etc).