Abstract

In the year 1795 Poland ceased to exist. It was partitioned into three parts: Prussian, Russian and Austrian. One of the last “late-feudal” European states disappeared. The foundation of economy of Poland was agricultural sector, and rural, peasant labor force consisted mostly of serfs. I will show the occupational structure of Polish lands in late 18th/early 19th century and its evolution during 19th century (on regional level). Finally, the occupational structure of Polish lands before the outbreak of WWI was similar to the labor structures of other European industrializing peripheries. The analyzed territory is limited to the territory of Duchy of Warsaw and Austrian Western Galicia (then German province Posen, Russian Congress Kingdom of Poland and Austrian Western Galicia). This is the territory continuously inhabited by Polish ethnic majority, contrary to most of other territories included into interwar and contemporary Polish borders.