Die Balkanländer. Bd. I
The Balkan Countries. Vol. I

Author(s): Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye
Subject(s): Human Geography, 19th Century, Period(s) of Nation Building
Published by: CEEOL Collections / Digital Reproductions
Keywords: Balkan Region; Zadruga;
Summary/Abstract: My path leads me again to the Slav peoples of the Danube and Balkan countries. I want to see how the Zadrugas — the home or family communities — which excited me so much on my journey in 1867, have changed since then. Leroy-Beaulieu and Moritz Block severely criticized my antiquated conception of those venerable communities, while Stuart Mill shared it and Henry Maine understood it. Under Bishop Strossmayr's guidance, I will first inspect the Zadrugas of Slavonia in the Djakovo area, then I will continue my observations in Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria, learning about the political and economic situation of these countries, which I have already discussed in my book »Prussia and Austria since Sadowa«. The favorable opportunity to undertake such investigations must be seized without hesitation, because a rapid transformation is taking place under the influence of railways, new constitutions and closer ties with Western Europe. The inhabitants of those countries will soon exchange their peculiar, hundred-year-old customs and customs, their picturesque costumes for what ist usually called modern civilization, and then regulate their whole way of thinking and living in the manner of Paris or London. I hear tremendous changes have taken place since 1867. (From the author's introduction)

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