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original scientifi c article                 DOI 10.19233/ASHS.2017.09
received: 2016-04-21
PHYLLOXERA REVISITED: THE SPREAD OF GRAPEVINE DISEASE 
IN DALMATIA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC 
DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE
Anica ČUKA
University of Zadar, Department of Geography, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Croatia 
e-mail: acuka@unizd.hr
Lena MIROŠEVIĆ
University of Zadar, Department of Geography, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Croatia 
e-mail: lmirosev@unizd.hr
Josip FARIČIĆ
University of Zadar, Department of Geography, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Croatia 
e-mail: jfaricic@unizd.hr
Vera GRAOVAC MATASSI
University of Zadar, Department of Geography, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Croatia 
e-mail: vgraovac@unizd.hr
ABSTRACT
The paper discusses the infl uence of phylloxera on the socio-economic features and landscape of Dalmatia, a 
region of Croatia. The aim of the paper is to investigate the spread of phylloxera in Dalmatia and how it affected 
the landscape, economy and population of the area in question. The research is based on a comparative analysis of 
various spatial data sources. Phylloxera spread through Dalmatia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the 
region belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Since agriculture, along with maritime activities and fi shing, 
formed the heart of economic activities in Dalmatia, the crisis in viniculture caused by phylloxera had a particularly 
negative infl uence on social and economic circumstances. At the same time, changes occurred in the agrarian 
landscape, as many of the vineyards affected by phylloxera were never renewed; some arable areas were reassigned 
to other cultures, while others were completely abandoned.
Keywords: phylloxera, Dalmatia, agricultural landscape, depopulation, emigration
FILLOSSERA: LA DIFFUSIONE DELLA MALATTIA DELLA VITE IN DALMAZIA E IL SUO 
EFFETTO SULLO SVILUPPO SOCIO-ECONOMICO E SUL PAESAGGIO AGRICOLO
SINTESI
Il presente lavoro, basato sull’analisi comparativa delle diverse fonti di dati spaziali, esamina l’effetto della fi l-
lossera sulle caratteristiche socio-economiche e paesaggistiche della Dalmazia, la regione croata situata nella parte 
nord-orientale del mare Adriatico. Fillossera si diffuse in Dalmazia alla fi ne del XIX secolo e all’inizio del XX secolo, 
nel periodo in cui la regione apparteneva all’Impero Austro-ungarico. Dato che l’agricoltura, accanto agli affari ma-
rittimi e la pesca, rappresentava l’attività economicha principale in Dalmazia, la crisi della viticoltura, condizionata 
tra l’altro anche dalla fi llossera, ha avuto un impatto molto negativo sulle opportunità sociali ed economiche. Tra le 
conseguenze si distingue in particolare l’emigrazione intensiva della popolazione giovane, vitale e in età lavorativa, 
soprattutto verso Nord e Sud America. Allo stesso tempo c’è stato un cambiamento del paesaggio agrario, perché 
una gran parte dei vigneti devastati dalla fi llossera non so no stati mai ripristinati: una parte di queste terre coltivabili 
è intesa per altre colture (olivo, ciliegia marasca ecc.), oppure completamente abbandonata.
Parole chiave: fi llossera, Dalmazia, paesaggio agricolo, spopolamento, emigrazione
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INTRODUCTION
Phylloxera is a grapevine disease, introduced from 
the USA, which gradually gained ground and then 
destroyed European vineyards in the latter half of the 
19th and early 20th centuries. Since viniculture was 
extremely important in many parts of Europe, the arrival 
and spread of phylloxera had a profound effect on social 
and economic circumstances and on changes to the 
agrarian landscape. The phylloxera epidemic of the late 
19th century affected the Croatian coast and islands in 
the northeast Adriatic.
The area discussed in this paper is the historical 
region of Dalmatia, which occupies the greatest part of 
the Croatian coastline. Although the region’s borders 
changed several times, we will analyse it within the bor-
ders of Austrian Dalmatia, since those borders were the 
offi cial ones during the period discussed in this paper. 
Today, most of the Austrian Dalmatia is a part of Croatia, 
and only a small part of it is in present-day Montenegro 
(the Bay of Kotor).
Since the economy of the Adriatic region largely de-
pended on agriculture and maritime activities, changes 
to these were refl ected in signifi cant ways in the area, 
including the way in which the landscape changed. Of 
course, agriculture primarily affected the formation of 
the rural landscape, while maritime activities mostly 
had a direct impact on urban and rural settlements 
(the construction of harbour infrastructure, maritime 
signalisation, etc.). In the Dalmatian rural landscape, 
two types of karst landscapes dominated: pastureland 
and drywall areas (Ogrin, 2005). Four patterns could 
be distinguished in them: olive groves, vineyards, karst 
pasturelands for cattle breeding, and degraded Mediter-
ranean forests and maquis. Since the greatest changes in 
the 19th century affected viniculture, as part of the par-
ticular changes in that branch of agriculture throughout 
Mediterranean Europe, huge changes became apparent 
in the mosaic of the Dalmatian landscape in a relatively 
short period of time.
The aim of this study is to discuss the infl uence of 
phylloxera on the socioeconomic features and rural 
landscape of Dalmatia from the geographic point of 
view. The research began with the hypothesis that in 
Dalmatia, as a peripheral region of the Austro-Hungar-
ian Monarchy, in which agriculture formed the core of 
economic activities, grapevine disease and problems 
with the market placement of wines led to enormous 
changes in spatial organisation and the demographic 
structure of the population, and these had a consequen-
tial infl uence on changes to the rural landscape. Using 
the available archive sources, articles in the scientifi c 
and expert literature at the turn of the 20th century, and 
statistical and cartographic spatial data sources, the re-
search attempted to establish the fl ow of the geographic 
spread of phylloxera in Dalmatia, its effect on the crisis 
in viniculture, and further, to gain an insight into the 
traces left by phylloxera on the physiognomy of the 
Dalmatian area. The most useful archive sources were 
maps, published by the Austrian Military Geographic 
Institute and statistical yearbooks of the Austrian 
Monarchy. In reconstructing the spread and infl uence 
of phylloxera, very useful source of information were 
articles published in specialist agricultural journals such 
as Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia and La Dalmazia 
Agricola, and articles written by Stanko Ožanić, were 
especially useful. In particular, Ozanić’s data on phyl-
loxera in Dalmatia should be regarded as a valuable 
eye-witness statement on the outbreak, as he was the 
vineyard commissioner for Dalmatia, and participated 
personally through his educational and expert work in 
curbing the disease and dealing with its consequences.
The intense transformation of the Croatian coastal 
landscape, including the Dalmatian part, after many 
long centuries in history during which there had been 
no marked change, was caused by increased grapevine 
cultivation and wine production in the latter half of the 
19th century. However, the viniculture boom was halted 
by an outbreak of phylloxera which led to the collapse 
of the coastal vineyards. In the surrounding context of 
agrarian over-population, this prompted a huge wave 
of emigration between the end of the 19th century and 
the 1920s, mostly to North and South America and 
Australia (Tomasevich, 1955; Čizmić et al., 2005; Ne-
jašmić, 2008). The same processes which had launched 
the spread of phylloxera in other European viniculture 
regions reached Dalmatia a little later, in the latter half 
of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In order to discuss the changes of the cultural land-
scape, it is necessary to understand the historical and 
social circumstances, since the cultural landscapes are 
the result of continuous reorganisation of space that 
meets the social demands in certain historical periods. 
Historical-geographic dynamics of north-eastern Adriat-
ic coast from prehistoric times until today has infl uenced 
the formation of a specifi c cultural landscape, but also 
the political framework of the space, which has been 
the result of confl icts and compromises among great 
European powers (Mirošević, Faričić, 2011). Addition-
ally, such processes have infl uenced the disintegration 
of the Croatian political space and contributed to the 
development of regional particularism. At the turn of the 
20th century, the area discussed in this paper was faced 
with political changes that had strong economic and 
social implications. 
Political integration of the majority of north-eastern 
Adriatic coast started under the rule of the Venetian 
Republic, which proclaimed its territory of Dalmatia. 
This political integration of the area can be divided into 
two periods. The fi rst period lasted from 1409 to 1420 
and was marked by the acquisition of the area by the 
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Venetian Republic, and the second period that followed 
could be called the period of contraction and expansion 
of the Venetian territories. Particularly important for the 
formation of these territories were the peace treaties of 
Karlowitz (1699) and Požarevac (1718), which granted 
the expansion of the Venetian Dalmatia up to Velebit and 
Dinara Mountains (Kruhek and Pavlović, 1991; Čoralić, 
2003 and 2005). Such territorial organization was the 
foundation for the subsequent Austrian Dalmatia. Name-
ly, after the several centuries long continuous rule of the 
Venetian Republic over the north-eastern Adriatic, that 
former Venetian territory became a part of the Austrian 
Empire (which was in 1867 renamed Austro-Hungarian 
Monarchy). At fi rst, it was a short term administration 
(1797–1805), because according to the Treaty of Požun 
(1805), the Austrian territorial acqusitions on the Adriat-
ic became French territories. However, after Napoleon 
was defeated, the Austrian Empire again ruled the whole 
north-eastern Adriatic coast (coastal and insular area 
from Soča to Budva), which was in accordance with the 
provisions of Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) (Šidak et 
al., 1990; Chaline, 2001; Kirchner Reill, 2012). This, 
so-called, second Austrian administration over the 
north-eastern Adriatic lasted until 1918. During this pe-
riod, Dalmatia, which had had the status of a kingdom 
since 1817, was a peripheral province with many social 
and economic problems (Stockhammer, 1878).
In 1814, the Austrian Empire organised the new-
ly-acquired territory as a separate region called Austrian 
Littoral with Trieste as the capital. The region was divid-
ed into four counties: Rijeka, Istria, Gorica and Trieste. 
In 1816, the Kingdom of Illyria was founded, and in the 
following year Dalmatia, which was a part of Illyria, be-
came a separate region. In 1817, Dalmatia was granted 
the title of Kingdom. The capital of the Kingdom of Dal-
matia was Zadar, and the Kingdom was organised into 
counties: Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Makarska 
(but in 1818 the County of Makarska was abolished and 
annexed to Split). The counties were further divided into 
districts and municipalities (Pederin, 2004). 
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monar-
chy, the Croatian territories, including Dalmatia, were 
integrated into the newly-founded political unit – State 
of Croats, Serbs and Slovenes (1918). Only a month 
later, it united with Serbia into the fi rst Yugoslav state – 
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (in 1929, it was 
renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). Consequently, the 
former state borders became administrative borders, and 
Croatian territories, excluding Baranja, were united. 
However, territorial integration of Croatian territories, 
particularly the coastal area, was interrupted when 
Italy, according to the provisions of the Treaty of Ra-
pallo, annexed Trieste, Gorica, Gradiška, western Kranj, 
Istria (excluding Kastav), Zadar and its surroundings, as 
well as the islands of Lastovo, Sušac and Palagruža in 
1920. Additionally, according to the Treaty of Rome1, 
Italy annexed Rijeka in 1924. When the former capital 
of Dalmatia, Zadar, and the islands were annexed, 
Dalmatia ceased to exist as an administrative unit and 
as a while. Similar territorial changes continued within 
the Kingdom of Yugoslavia through various territorial 
and administrative changes when the north-eastern 
Adriatic coast was divided into different administrative 
units (called Banovine). In the context of this paper, it 
is important to emphasise that only a small portion of 
the territory annexed by Italy in 1920 was located in 
Dalmatia (the town of Zadar and the islands of Lastovo, 
Sušac and Palagruža), so this territorial change did not 
infl uence signifi cantly the surface of the area investigat-
ed in this paper.
In the 19th century, three types of land ownership 
could be distinguished: land owned by the farmers, 
land owned by the noblemen or the Church, and land 
owned by the community (municipality). Most of the 
land was in the hands of the noblemen or the Church 
with various private and legal variants of the agreement 
between the landowners and the farmers: colonate, livel 
and serfdom. Colonate was mostly present in central 
Dalmatia and on the islands, and it was defi ned by the 
agreement between the landowner and the lessee, who 
worked the land. The land owner would get between a 
half and a fi fth of the yearly income off the land (rent) 
and a number of other previously determined benefi ts. 
Livel was mostly present in northern Dalmatia. The la-
bourer would always give the same, i. e. fi xed, amount 
of products or money to the landowner. Serfdom was 
the most frequent in Dubrovnik area. The serf would 
get the land (and the house) from the landowner, and 
in exchange, he would pay the rent by giving a part of 
the produce to the landowner and by working a certain 
number of days at the landowner’s estate. Such relations 
were interrupted by the regulations from 1930 and 
1931, when the land labourers became the land owners, 
and the previous owners were reimbursed. Complete 
settlement of the agrarian relations in Dalmatia occurred 
after the Second World War (Defi lippis, 1997).
According to the size, most of the estates in Dalmatia 
in 1902 were small and extremely small. The estates 
sized less than 0.5 hectare comprised 16,2 % of all 
estates, those between 0,5 and 1 ha comprised 18,1 %, 
1 Italian territorial claims of the north-eastern Adriatic coast were the result of the agreement between the Great Britain and France. 
Namely, these countries signed the secret Treaty of London (1915) and urged Italy to join the Triple Entente, and in return they granted 
Italy the following territories: Trentino, Tirol, Istria, a part of Dalmatia stretching from Lisarica in the north to Planka Cape in the south, 
including the islands ranging from Premuda and Silba in the north to Mljet and Palagruža in the south (excluding the islands of Veliki and 
Mali Drvenik, Čiovo and Šolta) (Peričić, 1973). The remaining part of Dalmatia would become a part of Croatia, Serbia (from Krka River 
to Ston, including the Pelješac Peninsula and the Island of Brač) and Montenegro (coastal area from Ston to Budva, and Albanian coast 
up to the port of Shenghin) (Diklić, 1990 and 1998).
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1 to 2 ha 24,9 %, 2 to 5 ha 27,0 %, 5 to 10 ha 9,5 %, 
10 to 20 ha 3 %, and only 1,3 % had more than 20 ha 
(Šimončić-Bobetko, 1989).
SPREAD OF PHYLLOXERA IN EUROPE AND 
ECONOMIC SITUATION IN DALMATIA BEFORE THE 
PHYLLOXERA OUTBREAK
Although the grapevine had been the most widespre-
ad agricultural culture in the island and coastal part of 
Dalmatia since classical times, a real viniculture boom in 
this part of the Adriatic region only began in the mid-19th 
century. The golden age of Dalmatian viniculture lasted 
from 1875 to 1894 (Ožanić, 1955; Kraljević, 1994). The 
intense growth of viniculture in Dalmatia was directly 
linked to the crisis in the trade in other European co-
untries, at fi rst due to the appearance of mildew and 
peronospora, followed by phylloxera. The misfortunes 
of the western and southern European vineyard regions 
facilitated the expansion of exports from the Dalmatian 
vineyards, accompanied by a rise in the price of wines, 
particularly on the French market, but also in the re-
ceiving regions of Italy, Austro-Hungary and Germany. 
So, phylloxera in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy 
led to economic prosperity for the coastal and insular 
population of Dalmatia. However, when phylloxera re-
ached the Croatian coast, it resulted in economic crisis 
and emigration. The consequences of phylloxera were 
catastrophic, as the Dalmatian economy at the turn of 
the 20th century was emphatically oriented towards the 
monoculture production of grapevines (Kraljević, 1994).
Although Dalmatia was a predominantly agricul-
Figure 1: Territory of Austrian Dalmatia (Source: authors)
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tural area, its agrarian production did not meet the 
population’s requirements in terms of food. There 
were many reasons for this, including outdated feudal 
proprietary relations and extensive agriculture, with the 
application of primitive working resources. The greatest 
problem was the lack of cereals, while the main agricul-
tural products were olive oil and wines. The short-lived 
French administration (1806–1813) attempted to imple-
ment modernisation measures in terms of agricultural 
development, and was responsible, among other things, 
for the introduction of potato growing, which went some 
way towards offsetting the lack of cereals in the local 
diet. Tense agrarian and proprietary relations during 
the second Austrian administration (1813–1918) did 
little to improve the situation up to the end of the 19th 
century. The outdated land-property system, high taxes, 
usury and the economic crisis which affected the entire 
country were the main factors hindering the economic 
development of Dalmatia (Obad, 1990; Diklić, 2010). 
The Dalmatian villages were affected most, where over 
80 % of the total population of this Croatian coast regi-
on lived. Therefore, landowners and peasants reacted 
spontaneously to any market incentives to improve their 
diffi cult socioeconomic status.
By the early years of the second Austrian admini-
stration, the rising price of wine had led to increased 
interest in viniculture in Dalmatia. Therefore, from the 
1830s onwards, the Austrian authorities recorded a 
gradual increase in the surface area being cultivated 
for grape-growing (Chart 1, Table 1). Statistical data for 
the area covered by vineyards up to the second half of 
the 19th century showed the wide extent of vineyard 
acreage, from over 100.000 hectares (e.g. the data for 
1828, the fi rst year covered by offi cial statistics), to 
68.000 hectares (in the mid-19th century). The range of 
statistics did not so much refl ect the actual situation, as 
the consequence of the fact that in Dalmatia, a compre-
hensive cadastre land survey was not carried out until 
the period 1823–1838, so data on categories of land use 
for agricultural cultures were not available for mutual 
comparison until the mid-19th century. However, even 
then, there was no continuous monitoring of viniculture 
which would have included the entire Dalmatian area, 
which explains some chronological gaps and repeated 
data. This means it is impossible to produce a compre-
hensive reconstruction of changes to areas where grape-
vines were grown and an assessment of the quantities of 
wines produced.
The statistical cadastre data was accompanied 
by economic descriptions of cadastral municipalities 
written in the mid-19th century. In these descriptions, 
it is mentioned that wines and olive oil are often the 
Chart 1: Areas occupied by vineyards and wine production in Dalmatia, 1829–19062
2 Chart made by authors by using data from: HR-DAZD, Versuch einer Darstellung der oesterreichischen Monarchie in Statistischen tafeln, 
1828–1844, Per A-10; Uebersichtstafeln zur Statistik der Oesterreichischen Monarchie für die Jahre 1862–1872; K.K. Statistischen Cen-
tral-Commission, Wien 1863–1873; Statistisches Jahrbuch für 1875–1906; K. K. Statistischen Central-Commission, Wien 1876–1908; 
Peričić, 1998; Kraljević, 1994; Općinski rječnik za Dalmaciju, C. Kr. Središnja statistička komisija, Beč, 1908.
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only products traded by the islanders, as they produced 
surpluses of these products, while the basic trading good 
is most often mentioned as wine, rather than olive oil. 
However, wine production was conducted in very mod-
est conditions. The rural population was hard-working, 
but insuffi ciently educated and suspicious of innova-
tions, i.e. anything which might confl ict with the knowl-
edge they had acquired from their ancestors, or based 
on personal experience. This is abundantly evident in 
the eleventh chapter of the economic description of the 
Žirje cadastral municipality, covering the islands of Žirje 
and Kaprije in the Šibenik archipelago:
There is little that can be said about the hard-
-working nature of the growers, since they all, wi-
thout exception, work their land unstintingly, yet 
their efforts produce sparse yields from the dry 
ground, strewn with boulders and pits. In general, 
they are all more or less badly off, to the extent 
that they need loans and assistance from others 
on many occasions. They lack fertilisers, the 
earth is shallow at the foot of the hills and on the 
peaks and promontories, and the prejudices they 
have inherited from their forebears are the main 
hindrances to improving the state of cultivation 
(HR-DAST-152, Operato Dell’estimo censuario 
del commune di Zuri, 1844). 
In spite of these adverse circumstances, the area 
under grapevine cultivation in Dalmatia gradually 
increased, as did wine production, particularly in the 
1850s. This was the era in which vineyards planted in 
earlier times reached the peak of production (with the 
exception of 1854, which was a particularly bad year).
An outbreak of mildew in the Dalmatian vineyards 
(1857–1867) slowed the further development of vinicul-
ture. However, a resolution to the crisis appeared in the 
form of the unexpected boom triggered by the collapse 
of European vineyards. In fact, the newest, most impor-
tant success of the Dalmatian vintners occurred when 
the potential for exporting Dalmatian wines in large 
quantities arose, due to an outbreak of phylloxera in 
France, which had until then been the dominant wine-
-producing country on the European market. In Europe, 
phylloxera was actually fi rst noted in England, as early 
as 1859 (Stevenson, 1980), although the fi rst description 
of the disease there is dated 1863 (Hancock, Williams, 
2012). But the appearance of phylloxera, its spread and 
means of combating it were only written about in more 
detail when it appeared in France, the country with the 
most signifi cant wine-producing regions in Europe. Gale 
(2003) says that as early as 1866, about fi ve hectares of 
vineyards had succumbed to the disease in the lower 
Table 1: Areas under viniculture and wine production in 
Dalmatia, 1829–19063 
Year
Area occupied by 
vineyards (ha)
Wine production (hl)
1829 52,519 456,579
1832 56,389 403,620
1835 55,972 605,560
1837 57,850 367,221
1843 68,358 672,000
1855 68,362 273,840
1857 68,480 996,600
1862 69,092 670,000
1875 76,974 1,212,254
1876 76,974 1,389,823
1877 76,974 566,754
1878 76,974 1,710,800
1879 - 907,960
1880 - 937,800
1881 - 980,400
1882 - 1,420,250
1883 81,853 1,295,000
1884 81,853 1,148,000
1885 81,853 985,270
1886 - 972,000
1887 - 1,585,000
1888 81,853 1,743,584
1889 81,853 1,150,640
1890 81,853 937,000
1891 - 1,150,000
1892 - 1,237,530
1893 77,794 1,557,930
1894 81,853 1,383,320
1895 77,765 1,126,750
1896 77, 765 1,354,980
1897 77,445 770,134
1898 77,799 922,176
1899 77,799 1,200,000
1900 77,812 1,206,494
1906 76,974 545,086
3 Table made by authors by using data from: Versuch einer Darstellung der oesterreichischen Monarchie in Statistischen tafeln, 1828–1844 
(HR–DAZD, Per A-10); Uebersichtstafeln zur Statistik der Oesterreichischen Monarchie für die Jahre 1862–1872; K.K. Statistischen Cen-
tral-Commission, Wien 1863–1873; Statistisches Jahrbuch für 1875–1906; K. K. Statistischen Central-Commission, Wien 1876–1908; 
Peričić, 1998.; Kraljević, 1994.; Općinski rječnik za Dalmaciju, C. Kr. Središnja statistička komisija, Beč, 1908.
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Rhône area, while Carton et al. (2007) claim that the 
new disease on the European continent was fi rst disco-
vered in the Lagoy area (south of Avignon, in the Rhône 
valley), on 15 July 1868. In 1868, the French botanist 
Jules Emile Planchon named the vine disease phylloxera 
(Planchon, 1868; Macedo, 2011). It was known earlier in 
North America, but French experts were unfamiliar with 
it. During the next decade, it spread swiftly to all the 
important vine-growing regions of Europe and further, 
to other continents4. By 1871, it was found in Portugal 
(Colomé Ferrer and Valls-Junyent, 2012), and became 
epidemic in that country from 1872 on (Morrow, 1973). 
In 1878 and 1879, the disease spread to Spain (Colomé 
Ferrer and Valls-Junyent, 2012). In the Malaga area 
alone, which was one of the most important Spanish 
wine regions, and the fi rst in the country to be affected, 
phylloxera destroyed 80% of the area occupied by vine-
yards. This resulted in agricultural diversifi cation, which 
later led to a signifi cant decrease in the vineyard area, 
the reassignment of land for other purposes, and thus 
changes to the landscape (Barke, 1997). Since vinicul-
ture had been one of the main activities, the spread of 
phylloxera and collapse of the vineyards brought about 
a swift economic downfall, mostly among small vine-
-growers, and led to emigration from Spain (Harrison, 
1973; Oestreicher, 1996; Colomé Ferrer and Valls-Jun-
yent, 2012). In the early 20th century, only a very few 
regions, such as Catalonia, succeeded in increasing the 
area cultivated for grape-growing in comparison to the 
period before the onslaught of phylloxera (Badia-Miró 
et al., 2010). Allowing for such exceptions, landscape 
changes and depopulation in the areas blighted were 
the main features of the wine-growing regions in Spain, 
and similar situations were recorded in other European 
regions affected by phylloxera (Roudié, 1985; Gale, 
2011).
While the Spanish vineyards were being devastated 
by phylloxera, the disease was also noted in Italy. By 
1879, it had encroached upon three Italian municipaliti-
es, covering 24 hectares, but in the next decade, spread 
throughout the country5. It started on Sicily, and then 
moved through Lombardy and Liguria6.
The vineyard crisis, fi rst in the French regions, then 
in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian areas, provided an 
incentive for the strong development of Croatian wine 
production on the coast. It was then that the use of 
agrarian land in the entire coastal and insular area, and 
even in the Dalmatian hinterland belt, began to spread, 
in conditions which were quite unfavourable in terms of 
the geomorphological and pedological features of the 
karst terrain. The spatial expansion of vines in the Dal-
matian area can be traced statistically from 1873, and 
particularly from 1883 onwards. It was the beginning 
of the golden age, a great boom period in Dalmatian 
viniculture. In the entire area under consideration, the 
vine played a key role in agriculture and in the overall 
economy, and occupied a third of the arable land in 
Dalmatia (Ožanić, 1955; Kraljević, 1994).
However, the prosperity of Dalmatian viniculture 
was not exploited to advance agrarian production 
through innovations in terms of cultivation techniques, 
soil improvement, vine strains, and in particular, the 
quality of wine-making and wine cellars. The Dalmatian 
vintners produced large quantities of mediocre wines. 
These were mostly purchased by French vintners, who 
then improved them using advanced oenological proce-
dures (Kraljević, 1994). Dalmatian agriculturalists were 
considered excellent grape-growers, but poor wine-ma-
kers (Kraljević, 1994).
As the areas under vine cultivation increased, so did 
the quantities of wine produced, but not its quality. In 
the period leading up to the ‘golden age’ of viniculture, 
the average annual yield in Dalmatia was about 600.000 
hl, while in the boom period, it exceeded 1.000.000 hl. 
In 1888, a record year was achieved, when 1.743.584 
hl of wine was produced (Kraljević, 1994).
Commercial grape-growing led to the intensive 
cultivation of new areas, even rocky terrain with very 
shallow fertile soil structures. Sometimes, when suitable 
land was lacking, vineyards were planted in former 
olive groves. Along with great changes to the landscape, 
changes in agrarian production began to be refl ected 
in a special way in the collective memory of the local 
inhabitants. For example, on the Zadar island of Ist, the 
present population tends to think that their forebears 
were never involved in olive growing, but only grape-
-growing (and animal husbandry), in terms of farming 
activities. This is borne out by the fact that only a few 
olive trees, mostly planted in gardens attached to houses, 
are found on the island today. However, in the mid-18th 
century, there were still about 300 olive trees on this 
small island (surface area 9,7 km2) (HR-DAZD-359, vol. 
28, pos. 2), and olive oil production is mentioned in 
the economic description of the Municipality of Ist for 
1844 (HR-DAST-152, Operato dell’estimo censuario del 
commune di Isto, 1844).
Most of the grape-growing capacity was in the insu-
lar and coastal belt of Dalmatia. By the mid-19th century, 
and particularly during the boom period, although the 
spatial dispersion of grape-growing areas had spread to 
the hinterland, the hub of production in Dalmatia had 
not changed. The main focal points on the mainland 
remained Zadar and Šibenik, while Brač, Hvar, Vis and 
Korčula formed the island belt. The southern part of the 
region and the hinterland were much more modest in 
terms of wine production.
4 Its outbreak in Austro-Hungary will be discussed in the following chapter.
5 Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia, 16. 7. 1892, 176.
6 Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia, 16. 2. 1882.
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SPREAD OF PHYLLOXERA IN DALMATIA 
AND ITS IMPACT ON DALMATIAN VITICULTURE 
AND ECONOMY
Economic growth in Dalmatia was hindered by pero-
nospora (1889) and the Wine Clause (1891), while vinicul-
ture and the entire economy of Dalmatia ground to a halt 
with the arrival of phylloxera (1894). The consequences 
of the almost simultaneous entry into force of the Wine 
Clause (regarding the trade agreement between Austro-
-Hungary and Italy) and the phylloxera epidemic were 
catastrophic in Dalmatia. The Wine Clause, which was a 
concession made by Austro-Hungary towards Italy during 
the rearrangement of military and political alliances in 
Figure 2: Spread of phylloxera in Dalmatia, according to maps published by the Military Geographic 
Institute in Vienna: a) 1889, b) 1896, c) 1901, d) 1909. The red areas are those affected by phylloxera 
(HR-DAZD-383, Sign. 125)
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Europe, allowed Italian wines to be placed on the Austro-
-Hungarian market without customs protection for dome-
stic producers (Perić, 1978), including those in Dalmatia. 
In spite of protests by local vintners and demands for the 
Wine Clause to be rescinded, higher quality, competitively 
priced Italian wines fl ooded the Austro-Hungarian market. 
At the same time, phylloxera devastated thousands of 
hectares of Austro-Hungarian vineyards.
Phylloxera was fi rst noted in Austro-Hungary in the 
early 1870s, in the vicinity of Kosterneuburg7. It spread 
from the northwest to the Dalmatian area, affecting the 
Dalmatian vineyards almost three decades after the fi rst 
outbreaks in continental Europe. It appeared in Istria in 
1880, and by 1891 had affected 14 municipalities8. It was 
probably observed on the Kvarner Islands in the same 
year, in the area adjoining Dalmatia along its northwest 
7 Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia, 1. 12. 1892, 359.
8 Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia, 12. 6. 1893, 17.
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border. By 1 February 1892, reports of phylloxera in 
Kvarner were appearing in Dalmatian journals speciali-
sing in agricultural news9. In addition to these journals, 
the Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia (1882–1893) and 
La Dalmazia Agricola (1907–1910) also reported the 
spread of phylloxera in Dalmatia, and its progress can 
be traced based on thematic maps published in 1909 by 
the Military Geographic Institute in Vienna.10
On 1 February 1892, the Bolletino Agrario della 
Dalmazia printed an important announcement (Noti-
fi cation) stating that phylloxera was moving nearer to 
Dalmatia, i.e. spreading to the neighbouring Kvarner 
Islands, and prohibiting the import of grapes or plants 
from the area. Anyone ignoring this prohibition would 
be fi ned or imprisoned11. Nonetheless, the disease con-
tinued to spread and quickly reached Dalmatia, moving 
northwest to southeast. According to an 1894 report by 
Mate Dudan, a teacher, it affected the vineyards on the 
Zadar islands of Silba, Olib and Pag (Ožanić, 1955), and 
then continued to spread to several parts of the north 
Dalmatian coastline and hinterland. In only fi ve years, it 
covered the entire Zadar hinterland, i.e. north Dalmatia. 
Central Dalmatia was affected between 1901 and 1909 
(Figure 1). The central Dalmatian islands and south Dal-
matia were affected by phylloxera later, between 1912 
and 1925 (Ožanić, 1926).
In spite of the calamities which plagued the Dalma-
tian farmers, in the early years of the crisis (1888–1894), 
average production was more or less maintained, but 
the unstoppable progress of phylloxera led to a fall in 
production in the following years, particularly from 
1897 onwards.
Statistical data on wine production in individual 
parts of Dalmatia in the three census years (1890, 1989 
and 1906) clearly indicate the spatial spread of phyl-
loxera and its consequences (Chart 2, Table 1). So, in 
1898, compared to 1890, there was a signifi cant fall in 
wine production, confi rmed in the northern Dalmatian 
islands, i.e. Rab and Pag, which coincided with the area 
in question being affected by phylloxera. At the same 
time, other parts of Dalmatia generally noted growth 
in wine production. However, in 1906, by which time 
most of Dalmatia was affected by the disease, statistical 
data refl ect a signifi cant fall in wine production.
The vineyard collapse (1892–1904) meant economic 
collapse which affected most of Dalmatia. There is a te-
stament to the kind of panic which took hold in Dalma-
tia due to phylloxera in the form of a prayer engraved in 
the little church in Ivan Dolac on Hvar, an island where 
viniculture was the main economic activity:
To the glory of the Mother of God, this church 
was raised by
Ivan Carić, of the Juraj family
Mildew and peronospora destroyed the grapes 
from the year 1852
It was a time of terrible hardship
The sap-sucker*12 reached Zadar
The vines failed, and in fear the downfall of the 
people is awaited.
O people! The hard of heart offend God
Turn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and may God 
Almighty preserve you from these three creatures 
(Politeo, 1978).
Given the role and dominance of the grapevine over 
other agricultural cultures, the future depended on re-
viving the vineyards by grafting onto various American 
rootstocks which were resistant to the causes of phyllox-
era. The provincial authorities in Dalmatia responded 
swiftly to the outbreak of phylloxera by raising parent 
plantations of American rootstock (40 different variet-
ies at fi rst, later reduced to four, brought from France, 
which had proved most suited to the pedological and 
climate conditions in Dalmatia). Experimental vineyards 
were established in Arbanasi, Vrana, Glavica near Knin, 
Šibenik, Kaštela, Čibača near Dubrovnik, Zavala on the 
Island of Hvar, and elsewhere (Ožanić, 1955; Politeo, 
1978), while instructions were printed for vineyard own-
ers (Pučka knjiga 3, 1894; Ožanić, 1904 and 1906) and 
the National Phylloxera Commission for Dalmatia was 
established. The response, however, was inadequate. 
Though Dalmatian agricultural workers were aware of 
the impending catastrophe, prevention measures failed, 
and a lack of fi nancial resources meant that reviving the 
vineyards using American rootstock was too slow and 
ineffective. The ratio of revived areas to those devastat-
ed by phylloxera was defeating (Kraljević, 1994). There 
was a reduction in the area cultivated for vines which, 
during the fi rst years after the disease appeared were left 
uncultivated or used for grazing, and then were partially 
restored as vineyards, grafted onto American rootstock. 
Advice given at the time regarding how to treat areas 
infected by phylloxera insisted they should be left fallow 
for at least a year, then planted with vetch which should 
be ploughed in after fl owering, followed by potatoes. 
9 Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia, 1. 2. 1892, 33.
10 K. u. K. Milit.-geographischen Institutes, Wien: Übersichts-Karte Weinbau-Gebiete Osterreich›s und der in denselben von der Reblaus 
befallenen Flächen nach dem Stande vom Jahre 1889., Übersichts-Karte Weinbau-Gebiete Osterreich’s und der in denselben von der 
Reblaus befallenen Flächen nach dem Stande vom Jahre 1896., Übersichts-Karte Weinbau-Gebiete Osterreich’s und der in denselben von 
der Reblaus verseuchten und der seuchenverdächtingen Flächen nach dem Stande Ende 1901. and Übersichts-Karte Weinbau-Gebiete 
Osterreich›s und der in denselben von der Reblaus verseuchten und der seuchenverdächtingen Flächen nach dem Stande Ende 1909 
(HR-DAZD-383, Sign. 125).
11 Bolletino Agrario della Dalmazia, 1. 2. 1892, 295–296.
12 Colloquial name for phylloxera.
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Only in the second year after infection by phylloxera 
was it recommended that domestic strains be grafted 
onto American rootstock13. It is interesting that, in the 
period when phylloxera was rampant, more and more 
articles appeared in the agricultural journals analysed 
encouraging the development of olive growing and 
often stressing the need to increase olive oil production.
After the First World War, changes occurred in the 
political framework within which the socioeconomic 
development of Dalmatia unfolded. In 1918, the Aus-
tro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed, and most of Dalma-
tia became part of the newly established Kingdom of the 
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The town of Zadar and the 
islands of Lastovo, Sušac and Palagruža, according to the 
provisions of the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo, were assigned to 
the Kingdom of Italy. However, these political-geographic 
changes did not promote any signifi cant economic recov-
ery. By the outbreak of the First World War, phylloxera 
had affected most Dalmatian vineyards, and renewal, 
though it had begun, was slow, due to unresolved propri-
etary relations and the tardy implementation of agrarian 
reform. According to statistical data from the Kingdom of 
Yugoslavia (Table 2), although the vineyard area gradu-
ally increased in size, it represented less than half of the 
area under vine cultivation in the boom period during the 
19th century15. These statistics are the best evidence of 
the catastrophic proportions of the phylloxera epidemic. 
And all these factors infl uenced the revival of waves of 
emigration of the Dalmatian population.
IMPACT OF PHYLLOXERA ON POPULATION 
AND EMIGRATION
During two decades spent fi ghting the spread of 
phylloxera and renewing the vineyards, both the coastal 
and insular populations began to engage in waves of 
emigration. As phylloxera advanced, the embarkation 
points for emigrants moved from northwest towards 
southeast Dalmatia. Emigration had a dual effect on 
landscape change. In the fi rst place, there was no longer 
a strong enough workforce to cultivate agricultural land, 
so uncultivated plots were abandoned to the endemic 
plant cover. In the second place, as the younger gen-
eration emigrated, biological reproduction dwindled 
and the birth rate fell, causing a natural decrease and 
infl icting long-term effects on population ageing and the 
rural exodus. These processes were accompanied by the 
desertion of arable land.
The depopulation of the vineyard areas devastated 
by phylloxera can be traced in authentic citations in 
publications of the day, and in a basic form in offi cial 
demographic statistical data. In 1907, La Dalmazia 
Agricola published an article on the drastic level of emi-
gration due in large part to the phylloxera epidemic, but 
also to other unfavourable factors in agriculture and the 
overall economy (La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 9. 1907, 5). 
It claimed that in 1906 alone, 62,000 Croats, of whom 
20,800 (one-third) were Dalmatians, had emigrated 
to America. Since the population had decreased and 
lost many young, active workers, the areas under vine 
cultivation were being renewed very slowly, and vini-
culture never regained the level it had reached before 
the fi rst appearance of phylloxera. In the same journal, 
it was claimed that only 6 % of the areas affected by 
phylloxera in Dalmatia had been renewed16. It should 
be remembered that at this time, not all of Dalmatia had 
been affected, and some of the important grape-growing 
regions had been spared, primarily the Pelješac penin-
sula and the islands of Brač, Hvar, Korčula and Vis.
In 1908, it was recorded that phylloxera had reached 
several areas in the Split District, seriously threatening 
the livelihood of the rural settlements and resulting in 
13 La Dalmazia Agricola, 1. 4. 1910, 77–78
14 Table made by authors by using data from: Land cultivated and harvests in 1921 and 1920, Ministry of Agriculture and Water of the 
Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, 1922; Land cultivated and harvests in 1923 and 1922, Ministry of Agriculture and Water of 
the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, 1924; Land cultivated and harvests in 1925 and 1924, Ministry of Agriculture and Water 
of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, 1926.
15 However, it is important to mention that a part of the reduction in the vineyard area was caused by the territorial changes that occured 
at the beginning of 1920s (Zadar and the islands of Lastovo, Sušac and Palagruža were annexed by Italy, and the Bay of Kotor became a 
part of Montenegro), but the surface of the excluded areas (and their vineyards) was extremely small in comparison to the surface of the 
whole Dalmatia.
16 La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 10. 1907, 6.
Table 2: Areas under viniculture and wine production in Dalmatia, 1921–192514
Vineyards and wine production
Year
1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
Vineyards on American rootstock (ha) 19,246 - 25,690 27,629 30,725
Vineyards using domestic stock (ha) 10,160 - 8,457 7,612 5,590
Total vineyard area (ha) 29,407 30,839 34,148 34,702 36,316
Wine production (hl) 638,750 535,359 856,600 842,200 760,650
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intensifi ed emigration17. In order to demonstrate the 
extent of emigration, the magazine editors provided the 
information that in 1908, there were more than 3,000 
Dalmatians living in New Zealand, exploiting kauri 
gum north of Auckland18. Another detail which provides 
clear evidence of the extent of emigration and the poor 
economic picture of the insular area was given in an 
article printed in 1910, in which it was expressly stated 
that due to debt, taxes, phylloxera (preceded by perono-
spora) and the falling price of wine, 300 men from the 
village of Grohote on the Island of Šolta (pop. 1,500) 
had left for America. This had left the village with an 
inadequate workforce, as most émigrés were between 
the ages of 18 and 5019.
It should be mentioned that among the agricultural 
announcements that often accompanied articles about 
diffi cult economic circumstances resulting from poor 
conditions in agriculture, phylloxera was not always 
identifi ed as the sole culprit.  There are frequent ref-
erences to the disadvantages caused by debt, rents, 
and the low price of wine. Thus, for example, in 
1909, it was reported that many people in Dalmatia 
had been unable to produce any wine at all (due to 
phylloxera), while those who could, had been unable 
to sell it due to poor market conditions20, obviously 
alluding to the unfavourable provisions of the Wine 
Clause (for the Dalmatian vintners). The role of phyl-
loxera in the context of economic and demographic 
development was back in the news in June 1910, when 
the disease arrived on the Island of Vis, then famous 
for the quality of its wines, where most of the arable 
land was under vine cultivation. The press described 
it as “terrible news”21. There were no tracts of land on 
the island suitable for growing cereals, and the article 
claimed that the spread of phylloxera might result in 
the negative socioeconomic conditions already noted 
on Brač, Šolta and other affected islands22. In 1925, 
Novo doba newspaper stated that 1,200 people (8,6% 
of the population) had emigrated from Blato and Vela 
Luka municipalities on the Island of Korčula in a single 
day (21. April 1925). By the end of 1928, 3,000 people 
had left (Mirošević, 1988).
The available offi cial demographic data reveal 
population reductions in many rural settlements during 
the phylloxera epidemic. The Austrian authorities did 
not record information about emigration or the motives 
which led people to leave. Some of this information was 
indirectly available, through analysing general trends 
in population numbers. The demographic ‘skeleton’, 
however important it was, based on offi cially verifi ed 
statistics, could not be interpreted without the ‘mus-
culature’ provided by the information in contemporary 
news articles. However, even having assembled a de-
mographic ‘anatomy’, we cannot answer all questions, 
as it is diffi cult to link phylloxera and depopulation 
unequivocally. Among other things, depopulation was 
also prompted by poor proprietary and legal relations, 
debts incurred when peasants were allowed to buy land 
as the feudal system ended, the low price of wine, and 
other vine diseases. In any case, depopulation was not 
only the result of a negative net migration, since natural 
population trends also need to be taken into account 
as motivating factors. In fact, in the early 1880s, the 
demographic transition started in Croatia, during which 
the death rate decreased while the birth rate remained 
high, resulting in strong natural increase. In line with 
such natural trends, the population growth rate increased 
(Nejašmić, 2008). However, in Dalmatia, particularly on 
the islands, population growth was not as marked, due 
to the unenviable economic situation which resulted in 
emigration. In spite of this, it should be emphasised that 
of the total population of Dalmatia in 1890, 86 % was 
engaged in agriculture (Antić, 1995). While there was a 
high natural growth rate and the population increased, 
agrarian overpopulation led to people moving away. 
The viniculture crisis, the end of the sailing ship era, the 
inauspicious political situation, the crisis in fi shing and 
household divisions, all exacerbated the economic situ-
ation and spurred the younger generations even more to 
emigrate (Nejašmić, 2008), particularly from the islands. 
Overseas emigration (primarily to the USA) depended 
largely on the information available to them about 
opportunities and life abroad (Nejašmić, 2008). The Dal-
matian population, in comparison to those in other parts 
of the country, became involved early on in overseas 
emigration, primarily thanks to the accessibility of travel. 
Overseas migration from Dalmatia at the turn of the 20th 
century became part of a huge wave which carried off 
part of the excess European agricultural population, and 
which, for many, meant a permanent departure from this 
Croatian region (Nejašmić, 2008; Klemenčič, 1993).
Migration did not begin at the same time in all parts 
of Dalmatia. Since phylloxera appeared fi rst in the 
vineyards of the north Dalmatian islands, this area was 
affected fi rst by depopulation. Up to the end of the 19th 
century, numbers rose markedly, but in the 1910 census, 
a signifi cant loss was recorded in comparison with the 
previous period, and this trend continued, particularly 
in the Dalmatian insular area (Chart 2, Tables 3 and 4). 
Thus, in the insular area, the population growth rate was 
17 La Dalmazia Agricola, 1. 9. 1908, 200.
18 La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 9. 1908, 213.
19 La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 3. 1910, 68.
19 La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 3. 1910, 68.
20 La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 4. 1909, 90.
21 La Dalmazia Agricola, 1. 6. 1910, 129.
22 La Dalmazia Agricola, 15. 6. 1910, 140–141.
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only 1,3 %, due to diffi cult economic circumstances 
and living conditions, while the situation on the main-
land and in the hinterland was only a little better, as 
the local economies were not dependent exclusively 
on agriculture. The coastal area, particular the towns, 
had developed various types of economic activity 
(primarily industrial and maritime), and this attracted 
island dwellers, while cattle-breeding had developed in 
the hinterland. Certainly, some islanders moved to the 
mainland, i.e. the nearest urban centre, as a result of the 
viniculture and general economic crisis. A similar trend 
was noted in France, when thousands of workers left the 
vineyards and moved into the towns. In Marseille, for 
example, the population doubled in a short time, while 
the department recorded a decline in the population 
overall. Some emigrated to Tunisia and Algeria, in the 
hope of starting over in areas unaffected by phylloxera 
(Gale, 2003). The Dalmatian islands reached peak 
population levels in 1921, after which a long period 
of depopulation followed (and is still continuing). Em-
igration had both short-term and long-term effects. This 
was because most émigrés were young, of working and 
child-bearing age, and this had an immediate effect on 
population numbers. In the long term, it had a negative 
effect on the future fertility of the population and the 
size of the work force.
Since no offi cial records were kept on emigration 
from Dalmatia, some demographers have attempted to 
provide estimates based on archive research. According 
to Nejašmić (2008), for example, about 100.000 people 
left Dalmatia between 1880 and the outbreak of the 
First World War, while Holjevac (1967) estimates that 
about 350.000 people left the islands and mainland 
areas of coastal Croatia (Istra, the Kvarner islands and 
Dalmatia) by the First World War (about 44 % of the 
population according to the 1910 census). The intensity 
of emigration, particularly to the USA, is also evident 
from the database of the Ellis Island Foundation (EIF, 
2009). There was a reception centre on Ellis Island, in 
New York harbour, through which millions of European 
immigrants passed into the USA. Using the criterion 
of ‘ethnicity’ in searching the database, about 25.000 
persons who declared themselves to be Dalmatians 
were found. However, it is important to emphasise that 
this was by no means the fi nal number of Dalmatians 
who emigrated to the USA between 1892 (when the 
harbour was opened) and 1924 (when the Immigration 
Act imposing quotas was passed). In fact, many people 
did not declare themselves to be Dalmatians, but Croats, 
Yugoslavs (after 1918), Italians, Austrians or Hungarians, 
as can be seen from documents recording their places of 
birth and domiciles before arrival on Ellis Island. And, 
Chart 2: Population of Dalmatia, by regions, 1857–194823 
23 Chart made by authors by using data from: Settlements and population in the Republic of Croatia, 1857–2001, CD-ROM, Croatian 
Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, 2005; Special-Orts-Repertorium von Dalmatien, K.U.K. Hof und Universitats-Buchhandler, Wien, 1894; 
Ljubić, 1885.
114
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Table 3: Population of Dalmatia, 1857–194824
Region 1857 1869 1880 1890 1900 1910 1921 1931 1948
Mainland 117,535 121,508 135,746 147,056 163,478 175,917 188,396 217,584 220,316
Islands 93,813 102,179 111,340 124,105 136,905 138,684 140,955 133,199 123,615
Hinterland 218,543 236,763 241,600 271,557 307,103 335,933 343,060 367,240 372,722
Dalmatia 429,891 460,450 488,686 542,718 607,486 650,534 672,411 718,023 716,653
Table 4: Population change in Dalmatia, by periods (in %)25
Region
1857 - 
1869
1869 - 
1880 
1880 - 
1890
1890 - 
1900
1900 - 
1910
1910 - 
1921
1921 - 
1931
1931 - 
1948
1857 – 
1880
1880 – 
1910
1910 – 
1948 
Mainland 3,4 11,7 8,3 11,2 7,6 7,1 15,5 1,3 15,5 29,6 25,2
Islands 8,9 9,0 11,5 10,3 1,3 1,6 -5,5 -7,2 18,7 24,6 -10,9
Hinterland 8,3 2,0 12,4 13,1 9,4 2,1 7,0 1,5 10,6 39,0 11,0
Dalmatia 7,1 6,1 11,1 11,9 7,1 3,4 6,8 -0,2 13,7 33,1 10,2
24 Table made by authors by using data from: Settlements and population in the Republic of Croatia, 1857–2001, CD-ROM, Croatian 
Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, 2005.; Special-Orts-Repertorium von Dalmatien, K.U.K. Hof und Universitats-Buchhandler, Wien, 1894.; 
Statistika pučanstva u Dalmaciji, ed. Kažimir Ljubić, Zemaljski odbor dalmatinski, Zadar, 1885.
25 Calculated according to the data in Table 3.
of course, not all immigrants to the USA passed through 
Ellis Island.
An analysis of the Dalmatians registered on Ellis 
Island shows that their average age was 25,8. Almost 
a quarter of them were aged 15 to 19. They were mo-
stly males. The Island of Olib is a good illustration of 
emigration and subsequent depopulation. The island 
was affected by phylloxera in 1894, and its population 
peaked in 1900 at 1495 inhabitants. From then on, 
numbers fell steadily. The Ellis Island database contains 
the names of 414 people who declared themselves as 
Dalmatians from the Island of Olib. However, the actual 
number of émigrés from the island was probably higher, 
as they did not all declare themselves as Dalmatians.
CONCLUSION
Given the great importance of agriculture in the 
Dalmatian economic system in the second half of the 
19th and fi rst half of the 20th centuries, any changes 
which affected this activity left perceptible traces in 
the rural landscape of this historical Croatian Adriatic 
region. In this sense, the sweeping changes in that 
period which occurred in viniculture took on dramatic 
dimensions. Alongside olive-growing, grape-growing 
formed the basis of Dalmatian agriculture. In the latter 
half of the 19th century, the exceptional variability of 
vineyard production, and therefore viniculture, was 
caused by the appearance of vine diseases, fi rst mildew 
and peronospora, then another, which was resistant to 
all treatment – phylloxera (colloquially known as ‘sap-
-sucker’). Since the disease fi rst affected the Western 
European Mediterranean vineyard region, where the 
largest European (and global) producers and consumers 
of wine were located, the Dalmatian vineyards initially 
experienced a period of fl ourishing as they strove to 
meet the demand to offset the wine defi cit on the Euro-
pean market. This boom period in viniculture, among 
other things, was evident in the cultural landscape of 
rural Dalmatia, where vineyards became the dominant 
agricultural feature. Vines were planted in places where 
other Mediterranean cultures had previously been 
grown, but also on new cultivatable plots acquired by 
clearing the rocky karst tracts and terracing the slopes. 
However, when phylloxera arrived in Dalmatia in 1894 
and began to spread, the archaic agricultural system 
virtually collapsed, and the worst effects were seen in 
the rural settlements where grapevines were the only 
culture. Although the Austrian authorities responded 
swiftly, attempts to renew the devastated vineyards pro-
ved organisationally and fi nancially inadequate, and did 
not produce the expected results. In addition, the appe-
arance of phylloxera corresponded with the renewal of 
the vineyards in France, Portugal, Spain and Italy, the 
introduction of high customs tariffs which made it har-
der to place Dalmatian wines on the previously ‘thirsty’ 
French market, and in particular, the application of the 
unfavourable customs agreement known as the Wine 
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Clause, according to which Austro-Hungary allowed 
Italy to place its wines on the Austro-Hungarian market 
for a minimum customs tariff. Not only did these events 
almost paralyse the placement of Dalmatian wines on 
the foreign market, but they also had highly negative 
effects on the sales of Dalmatian wines in Austro-Hun-
gary. Phylloxera exacerbated existing problems in the 
Dalmatian vineyards, primarily agrarian overcrowding, 
old-fashioned agricultural techniques, the poor level of 
viniculture and wine cellars, and the fragmentation of 
land parcels which occurred as a result of the end of fe-
udalism (in other respects a modernising process!). Due 
to the viniculture crisis, farmers turned to olive-growing, 
and to a lesser extent, to other fruit cultures (maraschino 
cherries, almonds and fi gs), maritime activities, fi shing, 
etc. A large number of vineyard workers and their fa-
milies emigrated, mostly to distant destinations in the 
Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Emigration and 
deagrarianisation, for which phylloxera was the ca-
talyst, were the causes of sweeping changes to various 
spatial structures in Dalmatia, and also had an effect 
on changes to the landscape in two major ways: some 
vineyards were turned into olive groves or orchards, 
and some were completely abandoned to be taken over 
by a succession of Mediterranean vegetation. Research 
carried out during the phylloxera epidemic, its effects 
on the Dalmatian economy, and traces in the rural 
landscape, based on various sources of geographic data 
(cartographic sources, offi cial statistics, and contem-
porary newspaper reports and expert interpretations), 
allows us to establish the spatial extent of this grapevine 
disease. However, the lack of data of the same type, 
source, precision and spatial range for the entire area 
of the Austrian crown land of Dalmatia, along with the 
fact that the viniculture crisis was caused and deepened 
by various problems simultaneously, does not permit a 
total areal reconstruction of the effects of phylloxera on 
changes to the Dalmatian rural landscape.
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FILOKSERA (TRTNA UŠ): ŠIRJENJE TRTNE BOLEZNI V DALMACIJI IN NJEN VPLIV 
NA DRUŽBENO-GOSPODARSKI RAZVOJ TER KMETIJSKO KRAJINO 
Anica ČUKA
Univerza v Zadru, Oddelek za geografi jo, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Hrvaška 
e-mail: acuka@unizd.hr
Lena MIROŠEVIĆ
Univerza v Zadru, Oddelek za geografi jo, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Hrvaška 
e-mail: lmirosev@unizd.hr
Josip FARIČIĆ
Univerza v Zadru, Oddelek za geografi jo, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Hrvaška 
e-mail: jfaricic@unizd.hr
Vera GRAOVAC MATASSI
Univerza v Zadru, Oddelek za geografi jo, Franje Tuđmana 24i, 23 000 Zadar, Hrvaška 
e-mail: vgraovac@unizd.hr
POVZETEK
Namen tega prispevka je, z geografskega vidika, preučiti vpliv trtne uši na dalmatinski podeželski okoliš. Študija 
temelji na primerjalni analizi različnih geografskih in statističnih podatkov in zgodovinskih virov. Ko je leta 1894 trtna 
uš prispela v Dalmacijo in se začela širiti, je arhaični kmetijski sistem skoraj propadel. Najhuje je bilo na podeželskih 
območjih, kjer je bilo vinogradništvo monokultura.
Trtna uš je poudarila obstoječe probleme v dalmatinskem vinogradništvu, predvsem agrarno prenaseljenost, 
zastarele agrotehnike, slabo vinarstvo in kletarjenje, vendar tudi razdrobljenost zemljišč (čestic), ki so se pojavile 
kot posledica (ali posodobitev!) procesa defeudalizacije. Zaradi krize v vinogradništvu so se kmetje preusmerili 
na gojenje oljk, redkeje na vzgojo drugih sadnih pridelkov (višnje, mandlji in fi ge), pomorstvo, ribištvo in druge 
dejavnosti. Veliko število pridelovalcev in njihovih družin se je preselilo, predvsem v določene oddaljene destinacije 
v Ameriki, Avstraliji in Novi Zelandiji.
Izseljevanje in deagrarizacija območji prizadetih s trtno ušjo, sta povzročila velike spremembe različnih pro-
storskih struktur Dalmacije. Med drugim je to vplivalo na pokrajinske spremembe, ki so se zgodile v dveh glavnih 
smereh: del vinogradov so nadomestili z oljčnimi nasadi in drugimi sadovnjaki, na drugi del, ki je bil popolnoma 
opustošen, pa se je uspešno naselila mediteranska vegetacija.
Ključne besede: fi loksera, Dalmacija, kmetijska krajina, depopulacija, odseljevanje
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