Delimitation and aggregation between populations analyzed by surname structure

The surname distribution, taken from the lists of telephone subscribers in 1979 and 1988, was used to analyze the similarity-distance relationships between human populations. The study used 43 neighbouring Italian communal populations, situated along the Apennine mountains. These communes were chosen to determine the effects of the territorial geomorphological structure, the presence of communication routes, and different administrative jurisdictions on the communes aggregation or differentiation.Overall communication routes are shown to be the most important factor in group aggregation. The presence of communication routes is also predominant in group differentiation due to the Apennine ridge. The ridge has an influence only when routes are absent, and in any case, its effect is lessened in the presence of communication routes. Aggregation due to adherence to the same political division, either on the provincial or regional level was found to be a secondary effect which occurs only when the borders of the administrative subdivisions coincide with the factors considered above.