Les savants Benkő József et Johann Georg Kleinkauf sur l'environnement, l'economie et la population de la Transylvanie a la fin du XVIIIeme siecle
Scholars Benkő József and Johann Georg Kleinkauf on the environment, economy and population of Transylvania, at the end of the 18th century

Summary/Abstract: The article dwells on the works of Benkő Jószef (1740-1814) – Transsilvania. Sive Magnus Transsilvaniae Principatus olim Dacia Mediterranea dictus (Vienna, 1778) and Johann Georg Kleinkauf – “Beschreibung einiger Berge und Höhlen in Burzenland und Zekelland” and “Chorographie von Burzenland”, both published in Siebenbürgische Quartalschrift, in 1793 and 1795, respectively. Comparatively with Benkő’s Transsilvania, a descriptive complete work on whole Transylvania, Kleinkauf’s geographic work is limited to areas located in Țara Bârsei and Secuime/ Szeklerland. Benkő’s Transsilvania was written in Latin and so it is more accessible to the specialized researchers, whiles Kleinkauf’s articles were written in German, more for the Saxon milieu. The two geographers mixed their theoretical, practical and technical knowledge, their works and researches passing the frontier between denominations and specific fields. Both the authors were teachers during their life. Their descriptions show the readers practical knowledge on lively and inanimate treasures of Transylvania, according to practical needs and contemporary techniques of commerce, mining, farming, and administration. This research’s perception in the natural history gives birth to a debate belonging to political history, with regard to record all the trading utilizations of the natural products.

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