Vlach Transhumant Economy at the Beginning of the 19th Century in Dalmatia and Bosnia in the French Perspective

Abstract

French rule over Dalmatia in the Napoleonic era (1806)(1807)(1808)(1809)(1810)(1811)(1812)(1813) resulted in the gathering of the information about this region, as well as neighboring Bosnia. Travelogues and reports on those lands are so rich and detailed that they can serve as an informative source on the populations inhabiting those areas. This paper focuses on a very precise element of this depiction: the specifi c status of the Vlach communities and their economic activity in Dalmatia and Bosnia (transhumant pastoralism). The comparison of the depiction of shepherding in those two regions leads to two main conclusions which concern the diff erences and similarities behind those two depictions. The diff erences are partially related to the presumed ineff ectiveness of the Vlach economy of Dalmatia. On the contrary, in the case of Bosnia, local stock raising was depicted as diversifi ed and able to bring considerable commercial benefi ts. The similarities between both depictions of the Vlach population in Dalmatia and Bosnia is the transhumant and traditional form of their activity, which was perceived as primitive, i.e. dependent on the natural conditions.