Rijeka Drava kao mjesto smrti u 18. i 19. Stoljeću (primjeri iz Đurđevečke graničarske pukovnije)
River Drava as a Place of Death in the 18th and 19th Centuries (Examples from the Đurđevec Regiment)

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents data that testifies about the drownings of people in the river Drava throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, in the area governed by Đurđevac border regiment. Considering that there were several villages along the river with a capricious nature,and knowing the different forms of coexistence of the people of this region and the Drava river, it is to be expected that drownings were a common occurrence. The author assumes that the Drava river has significantly influenced the environment in which there were many areas with danger of drowning. Indeed, drownings, as unusual causes of death, were carefully recorded in the registers of the deceased. Such historical sources sometimes also contained details about the drowning. Drowning incidents at that time were primarily recorded in written historical sources such as church registers of deaths. This especially applies to individual cases of drownings. Some mass drownings in Drava, as well as drownings during the Drava floods, werealso described in other sources. Here we could distinguish several different causes of drowning. In the first place there were drownings that occurred when people were crossing the river with or without a boat (especially in winter, crossing over the ice). Then, there were accidents involving river mills and other activities on the river such as fishing, washing laundry, transportation of livestock and other. Relatively frequent drownings happened to swimmers in which casethe victims were mostly children and young adults. A special category is reserved for deliberate drownings (suicides) and drownings of people with medical issues (mental disorders, epilepsy etc). The paper also provides a review of drowning incidents in other waterways and wetlands of the Drava basin in order to compare them with drownings in the river Drava. Here is also a comparison of cases from 18th and 19th centuries with a more recent period, i.e. 20th century.

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