Three Hundred Years of Industrial History in the Mountains of Banat

Abstract

After the peace treaty of Posserovac in 1718, the Banat Mountains region experienced a very dynamic economic development after the Habsburgs drove the Turks out of the southern parts of Hungary. At the beginning of the 18th century, the whole of the Banat region was an extremely sparsely populated and underdeveloped region due to the constant Turkish invasions. Following the expulsion of the Turks, the imperial court settled peasants and craftsmen, primarily from southern German areas, in the lowland plains of the Banat, while the mountainous region was populated primarily by Austrian, Czech and Moravian miners and woodworkers. Thanks to the settlements in the 18th century, the Banat became a distinctly multi-ethnic region, where, in addition to the majority German, Romanian, Hungarian and Serbian nationalities, settlers of Czech, Slovak, Croatian and Bulgarian nationality were also present. The ore and coal mines of the Banat Mountains provided an excellent base for heavy industry, iron and steel production. The foundation of the privately owned Austro-Hungarian Railway Company (STEG) gave a huge boost to the establishment and development of integrated heavy industry in the region, from the creation of 'Hungarian Pittsburgh' until the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, which led to the division of the Banat region into three parts. After the First World War, iron and steel production in Resicabánya remained of outstanding importance for a long time. The heavy industry centre of Resicabánya faced a strong competition from the steelworks in Galati and Targoviste, but the real decline in industrial production in the region came after the collapse of the socialist regime in 1990. The decrease in industrial production has naturally led to high unemployment, which has resulted in a high rate of emigration. The development of tourism and services could be the solution to the region's economic recovery, but this would require high-quality infrastructure.