Saga - 1978, Side 179

VÖXTUR OG MYNDUN ÞÉTTBÝLIS Á ÍSLANDI
173
setu. Þess má geta til, að þetta hafi nokkru valdið
um það, hve snemma veruleg þorp mynduðust til að
mynda á Eyrarbakka, Akranesi, Akureyri og Húsavík,
saman borið við útgerðarstaði á Vestfjörðum og Austfjörð-
um.
SUMMARY
The artiele is a study of urbanization in IcelancL 1890-1915, ba-
sed on yearly population figures for 41 towns and villages which be-
fore 1915 had reached the criterium of 100 inhabitants. The raw
data, presented in Table I, are found useful for the purpose of the
study, although certain faults and inaccuracies have to be reckoned
Vv ith. Table II shows the yearly increase of the urban population,
presented as (i) direct figures, (ii) % of the population of the whole
country, (iii) rnodified figures (to the exclusion of changes result-
ing from the inclusion of new villages, changed boundaries etc.),
and (iv) the rate of growth, calculated on the modified numbers
as in (iii).
It appears that the urbanization proceeds fastest approximately
1898—1907, thereafter to slow down significantly, not only for the
duration of the economic contraction of 1907/08 but for the rest
of the pre-war period. This appears odd, since the fisheries, which
were the basis of most urban employment, developed enormously ca.
1904-1914 and more specifically 1909-1912, with the rapid intro-
duction of mechanical power in vessels ranging from modern steam
trawlers to boats with a crew of five or less. Only paitially did the
displacement of older type vessels offset the introduction of the new.
As a partial explanation of this unexpected rythm of urban
Si'owth it is pointed out that prior to mechanization other sorts of
innovations and investments had brought the Icelandic fisheries to
a state of lively expansion, although not on the scale realized after
1904. Secondly, agriculture, still by far the largest employment sec-
t°r, had been severely depressed around the turn of the century but
experienced a spectacular recovery almost simultaneously with the
niechanization of the fisheries, the export value of agricultural pro-
ducts growing at the same rapid rate as that of fish products.
Pinally it is hypothezised that the 1898-1907 urban growth spurt
Was assisted by a once-and-for-all structural transformation. Previ-
ously there had been a lot of living-in agricultural servants, sea-
Sonally underemployed, lowpaid and legally required to be hired
l°r a year at a time; mostly single people competing for the limi-