The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

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The villages in Bran area developed close to Braşov city, in an intensely travelled Trans-Carpathian corridor, and for a long time they were situated at the border of two states and even empires. For all that, a reduced division of labour for long periods of time favoured their common evolution and the development of the same needs. In consequence, we may say that, from regional point of view, they outline the ethnographic mental space (P. Cocean, 2002, p. 58) of Bran area. The development in the same relief conditions led to similarities in social and economic characteristics, the sheepherding being the main occupation of their inhabitants. Even after that activity fell into decay, the newer ones (starting with the exploitation of the forest at the end of the 19th century and ending with the development of rural tourism in the last two decades) were also common activities, developed in all the villages, with a strong base in their ethnographic characteristics. Common activities led, first to similar typology of the components of settlements (patterns or built-up area, population and lands) and then, to strong connections, not only by administrative relations but by economic and demographic ones too. Those connections created a local settlement system (I. Ianoş, J. B. Humeau, 2000, p. 99) which by its traditional external relations is included in the regional settlement system of Braşov city. Administratively, the settlements are grouped in three communes. Downstream to upstream, they are: Bran, including the villages Bran (made up by the old villages Bran and Poarta), Şimon and the two villages from Sohodol Piedmont, Predeluţ and Sohodol; Moieciu, with the villages Moieciu de Jos (the commune seat), Cheia, Drumul Carului, Măgura, Moieciu de Sus and Peştera; Fundata, with the villages Fundata, Fundăţica and Şirnea.

Keywords: Bran, corridor, birth rate, death rate, emigration, immigration, population decrease, population ageing, primary production, rural tourism, risk, median age, childbearing a