La genèse des petites villes du bassin minier du Valenciennois au XVIIIe siècle. Contribution à l'étude des effets démographiques du développement des charbonnages.

Abstract

The author describes and accounts for the birth of mushroom villages in the Valenciennes coal-mining basin (Anzin, Fresnes, Vieux-Condé). It tracks the demographic shock wave wich, with the burgeoning extracting industry working as a catalyst, upsets the neighbouring rural communities. If the Valenciennes area meets its first needs in coal working population out of the «provinces/belgiques», the local environment, supported by a substantial excess of births over deaths is quick to respond to the Compagnie d'Anzin's job offers. Yet one shouldn't overrate the hyperfertility, however real, of the young coal-working proletariat in comparison with the rest of the region's working classes. The demographic behaviour of coal-miners stands out particularly because of the early marriage age and the high occurence of prénuptial conceptions.