Chapter Two. Migration In Context: Society, Economy, And Population In Rural Algarve

This chapter examines the economic basis of the region, the system of land tenure and land transmission, the social composition of the population, and the structure and economic role of the domestic group. The first part presents the general ecological and socioeconomic features of the Algarve; the second part surveys the social, economic, and demographic composition of the parishes of Boliqueime and Sao Bras de Alportel during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and examines the demographic aspects of geographic mobility and the participation of men and women from these parishes in multiple circuits of labor migration from a household perspective. The characteristics of land tenure influenced the patterns of land use and the organization of Algarvian agriculture. A symbiotic relationship developed between small and large farms as well as between irrigated and nonirrigated lands.Keywords: Algarvian agriculture; parishes of Boliqueime; Sao Bras