Characteristics of an urbanizing and industrializing population in Antwerp’s backyard: the case of Saint-Nicolas, Belgium

This paper will reconstruct the urbanization process in Saint-Nicolas, a town in Belgium between Ghent and Antwerp which from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century went through a process of urbanization and industrialization. The town Saint-Nicolas was, together with Ghent and Aalst, among the few towns in Flanders to undergo an early take-off of modern industrial development. The urbanization process in Saint-Nicolas can be reconstructed based on published census outcomes as well as previous studies which used archival data. We expect these data to show that during the long nineteenth century, the countryside cast off part of its reproductive potential (people at the age when they seek an independent existence, the same age when their reproduction is usually highest) to the town Saint-Nicolas, leading to fast natural growth in the town and slow natural growth on the countryside. The findings on the demographic characteristics of the urbanization process in Saint-Nicolas should also be seen in the light of the wider economic environment of the town. Saint-Nicolas was part of the Land of Waes, where the rural economy functioned in a different way than in other parts of inland Flanders.