Research intensions This doctoral thesis is trying to answer to two basic research questions. The first one correspondences with the title of the doctoral thesis itself and refers to analysis of the Statistical and Topographical Questionnaires of the Ban's Council. However, it is important to put that source in specific context, and then another research question comes out in the focus. Poll's purpose was to collect topographic – ethnographic – statistical description of Croatian lands, and its' model were books which were written in Habsburg Monarchy in the second half of the 19th century known as Staatskunde. The main goal of this research is to discuss Statistical and Topographical Questionnaires of the Ban's Council for better cognition of life of the people in the middle of the 19th century, as well as importance of that poll for „producing knowledge“ about characteristics of inhabitants from the perspective of authorities in the begining of the modern era. Methods of research In chapters II and III of doctoral thesis are considered past and present aproaches in analysis of the first half of the 19th century and Staatskunde. After that, they were compared with more recent approaches of that period and topic. In addition, the aim is to try to implement these cognitions to analysis and interpretation of the main source – Statistical and Topographical Questionnaires of the Ban's Council. By doing that, methods of synthesis, analysis and comparative method were being used. The phenomena of ethnicity and ethnic identifications in the middle of the 19th century in Croatian lands were also considered by puting them in the context of social sciences. Results and conclusions The goal of this work is to show the life of the „common people“ in the middle of the 19th century in Civil Croatia and Slavonia and Military Frontier. The poverty is omnipresent, and its' reasons are numerous: crop failure, weak traffic connections and quality of craftsmen products, as well as massive lack of education. Many priests – pollsters describe their parishioners as lazy people and ignoramus, who even don't want to learn anything new. On the other hand, some pollsters claime that people are diligent and skilled workmen. At the same time, the process of separation of agriculture and handicrafts goes on, and people in some areas are improving for concrete activities (woodworks, potters, blacksmiths, sempstress...). Especially interesting datas are those about ethnic identifications of inhibitants. The implication is that it is only seemingly homogeneous world, because Poll's datas bring out uneven ethnic and lingvistic picture of Croatian lands. Names for those identifications are local, regional, ethnic, natioanal or even superior to national ones. In same parts, religion is the element that separates people and in other parts language is the base for the ethnic identification. The third option is distingvishing people only for their social positions. Consequently, contrasts between „Us“ and „Them“ has depended on the specific situations.