Regions, Industries, and Heritage: Perspectives on Economy, Society, and Culture in Modern Western Europe

Abstract

In the 19th century, industrialization started to spread across Europe, marking the map with several dots indicating industrializing areas. At the time, these areas were separated by large agricultural tracts of land, and although these industrializing areas were connected by trade, spillo-vers of technology or migration of people, each of them took a unique path of development. This was because their differing natural resources demanded different technologies to make use of them, their varying traditions led to various ways of treating and developing material, and their infrastructural preconditions hindered or fostered their access to their different markets.