Page 131 - Mocarelli, Luca, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2020. Maize to the People! Cultivation, Consumption and Trade in the North-Eastern Mediterranean (Sixteenth-Nineteenth Century). Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 131
innovation in the south-easter n alps: maize as a crop in car inthia ...
Conclusion: industrialization and population growth
as accelerators of the spread of maize
From the sixteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century, maize
was becoming an increasingly important part of agriculture in Carinthia.
But it also became an important food, especially in rural areas. The de-
velopment of its cultivation varied greatly from region to region and over
time. Its more frequent occurrence in the areas which bordered on Italy
(Lesach Valley, Gail Valley) suggests that – as Burger suspects – it came
to Carinthia from Italy. Gradually, it spread from the mid-eighteenth cen-
tury onward in the climatically favourable Central Carinthia (Krappfeld,
Zollfeld) and during the first half of the nineteenth century towards Lower
Carinthia. Its increased spread came at a time when Carinthia’s industry,
especially the mining industry, experienced a boom. This confirms the the-
sis that its widespread distribution was the result of early industrialization.
This is linked to the beginning of population growth that had far-reach-
ing consequences. The population pressure made it necessary to cultivate
maize on a larger scale. With the cultivation of maize, the “inexpensive nu-
trition of the population became possible [...] which was a prerequisite for
the expansion of industrial production” (Sandgruber 1982, 46). After reach-
ing the lowest level in 1812, Carinthia experienced a period of demograph-
ic recovery from around 1825 onward. In 1847, the province had 320,784 in-
habitants. Compared to 1816, this growth meant an increase of 20.1 percent,
whereby the number of inhabitants in the Klagenfurt district (+24.3 per-
cent) increased more than in the Villach district (+14.4 percent). The popu-
lation pressure was so great that it made maize cultivation even more nec-
essary, as in the case of potatoes. In this respect, there was an interaction
between the spread of maize and the industrialization process in Carinthia,
same as elsewhere. Industrialization accelerated its triumphal march.
Bibliography
Archival sources
AT-KLA, 118-Rosenberg: Kärntner Landesarchiv Klagenfurt, 118-A-11/14 St.
(Graf Vinzenz Rosenberg, Inventarium des Erbherzogthum Kärnten über
die in selben enthaltenen Physical-, Politisch-, Pecunial- und Comercial-
Gegenstände, verfasset anno 1780).
129
Conclusion: industrialization and population growth
as accelerators of the spread of maize
From the sixteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century, maize
was becoming an increasingly important part of agriculture in Carinthia.
But it also became an important food, especially in rural areas. The de-
velopment of its cultivation varied greatly from region to region and over
time. Its more frequent occurrence in the areas which bordered on Italy
(Lesach Valley, Gail Valley) suggests that – as Burger suspects – it came
to Carinthia from Italy. Gradually, it spread from the mid-eighteenth cen-
tury onward in the climatically favourable Central Carinthia (Krappfeld,
Zollfeld) and during the first half of the nineteenth century towards Lower
Carinthia. Its increased spread came at a time when Carinthia’s industry,
especially the mining industry, experienced a boom. This confirms the the-
sis that its widespread distribution was the result of early industrialization.
This is linked to the beginning of population growth that had far-reach-
ing consequences. The population pressure made it necessary to cultivate
maize on a larger scale. With the cultivation of maize, the “inexpensive nu-
trition of the population became possible [...] which was a prerequisite for
the expansion of industrial production” (Sandgruber 1982, 46). After reach-
ing the lowest level in 1812, Carinthia experienced a period of demograph-
ic recovery from around 1825 onward. In 1847, the province had 320,784 in-
habitants. Compared to 1816, this growth meant an increase of 20.1 percent,
whereby the number of inhabitants in the Klagenfurt district (+24.3 per-
cent) increased more than in the Villach district (+14.4 percent). The popu-
lation pressure was so great that it made maize cultivation even more nec-
essary, as in the case of potatoes. In this respect, there was an interaction
between the spread of maize and the industrialization process in Carinthia,
same as elsewhere. Industrialization accelerated its triumphal march.
Bibliography
Archival sources
AT-KLA, 118-Rosenberg: Kärntner Landesarchiv Klagenfurt, 118-A-11/14 St.
(Graf Vinzenz Rosenberg, Inventarium des Erbherzogthum Kärnten über
die in selben enthaltenen Physical-, Politisch-, Pecunial- und Comercial-
Gegenstände, verfasset anno 1780).
129
