Abstract

TORRES FRANCO, Carmen Paulina. The Population of the Encarnación Parish (Nueva Galicia) through the 1819 and 1820 Censuses. Methodological Problems. Historelo.rev.hist.reg.local [online]. 2019, vol.11, n.22, pp.198-234.  Epub July 26, 2019. ISSN 2145-132X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/historelo.v11n22.73627.

Censuses are one of the most frequently used sources of information in the study of population growth in the past. Historians have considered that the information contained in them is reliable, but there has been no in-depth analysis of errors that may have been committed by the enumerators, or any reflection on the magnitude of such equivocations and how these could affect the results of historical research in Mexico. The purpose of this paper is to describe the differences in the elaboration of the 1819 and 1820 censuses in the Encarnación Parish in order to question their use, emphasizing the need for greater discernment when it comes to using certain sources of information and the advantages of nominative analyses in studies on demographic history. This study compared sources on three levels: censuses (1819 and 1820); baptism, marriage, and burial certificates; and the reconstruction of families. This comparison revealed quantitative and qualitative deficiencies in the elaboration of the censuses by the Encarnación Parish, which led to a questioning of their use as a suitable source through which to understand the populational growth here.

Keywords : population; censuses; demographic history; reconstruction of families; methodological problems..

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