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The Shaping of a Settler Fertility Transition: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century South African Demographic History Reconsidered

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  • Cilliers, Jeanne

    (Department of Economic History, Lund University)

  • Mariotti, Martine

    (Research School of Economics, Australian National University)

Abstract

Using South African Families (SAF), a new database of settler genealogies, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of women’s fertility in settler South Africa between 1700 and 1900. Differences in parity rates across geographic regions suggest couples knew how to limit fertility prior to the global onset of the first fertility transition. We date the start of South Africa’s fertility transition to cohorts born in the 1850s, having children from the 1870s. This timing is similar to other settler communities and earlier than many European countries despite somewhat different economic and social circumstances.

Suggested Citation

  • Cilliers, Jeanne & Mariotti, Martine, 2018. "The Shaping of a Settler Fertility Transition: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century South African Demographic History Reconsidered," Lund Papers in Economic History 173, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:luekhi:0173
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    Cited by:

    1. Johan Fourie & Frank Garmon, 2023. "The settlers’ fortunes: Comparing tax censuses in the Cape Colony and early American republic," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 525-550, May.
    2. J. Fourie, 2018. "Cliometrics in South Africa," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Martins, Igor & Cilliers, Jeanne & Fourie, Johan, 2019. "Legacies of Loss: The intergenerational outcomes of slaveholder compensation in the British Cape Colony," Lund Papers in Economic History 197, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    4. Cilliers, Jeanne & Green, Erik & Ross, Robert, 2022. "Did it pay to be a pioneer? Wealth accumulation in a newly settled frontier society," Lund Papers in Economic History 237, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    5. Jeanne Cilliers & Martine Mariotti, 2019. "Stop! Go! What can we learn about family planning from birth timing in settler South Africa, 1800-1910?," CEH Discussion Papers 05, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    6. Jeanne Cilliers & Erik Green & Robert Ross, 2023. "Did it pay to be a pioneer? Wealth accumulation in a newly settled frontier society," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(1), pages 257-282, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    South Africa; Fertility; Genealogies; Settler demography;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania

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