POPULATION GROWTH IN MEDIEVAL BULGARIA

Dimitar Arkadiev

Abstract: The article discusses the problem of population numbers and its growth in medieval Bulgaria (VII - XIV century). It is stated that the source base is limited. Discussed are the available estimates of the population numbers provided by various authors. The author of the article offers his assessment of the population numbers in the modern territorial borders of Bulgaria. It is based on the number of settlements, housing and the people living in them at the beginning of VII century according to the archaeological studies. Another strong point is the population of Vidin kingdom in the middle of the fourteenth century (600 thousand people). The results are compared with the estimates obtained by other methods described in the literature. The population numbers at the beginning of VII century (600) is estimated at 800 thousand people and by the middle of the fourteenth century (1350) - to 2230 thousand people. Between them the evaluations are every 50 years. They are determined by modeling the growth with the number of years in wars, natural disasters, epidemics and other. Population has increased about three times between the initial and final assessment.

Keywords:

Date published: 2015-04-22