The Rise of the Ruhr Area, Germany's Industrial Heartland, in the 19th Century


Korean Minjok Leadership Academy
International Program
Roh, Yong Ho
Research Paper, AP European History Class, Fall 2007

Table of Contents

Abstract I. Significance and Definition of the Ruhr Area
II. Geography
III. Brief History to the End of the 18th Century
III.1 Politics
III.2 Technology and Industries
III.3 Transportation
IV. Industrial Development by City
IV.1 Barmen and Elberfeld
IV.2 Bochum
IV.3 Dinslaken
IV.4 Dortmund
IV.5 Duisburg
IV.6 Düsseldorf
IV.7 Essen
IV.8 Gelsenkirchen
IV.9 Hagen
IV.10 Hamm
IV.11 Hattingen
IV.12 Hörde
IV.13 Krefeld
IV.14 Mülheim an der Ruhr
IV.15 Oberhausen
IV.16 Recklinghausen
IV.17 Remscheid and Solingen
IV.18 Ruhrort
IV.19 Sprockhövel
IV.20 Wesel
IV.21 Wetter
IV.22 Witten
V. Conclusive Analysis
V.1 Politics
V.2 Location and Transportation
V.3 Technology
V.4 Traditions
V.5 Resources
V.6 Entrepreneurs
VI. Notes
VII. Bibliography

Teacher's Comment

List of Illustrations

Figure 1.1 : Cities, Towns and Rivers near the Ruhr Area in 1800
Figure 2.2 : Iron Ore Mines and Iron Works in the Siegerland, Sauerland and Ruhr Area at the Beginning of the 19th Century
Figure 3.1 : The Political Map of the Ruhr Area, about 1800
Figure 4.1 : Railroads of the Ruhr Area, about 1930
Figure 4.2 : Navigable aterways of the Ruhr Area, about 1930
Figure 4.3 : Street-car Routes of the Ruhr Area, about 1930
Figure 5.1 : Population of the Cities in 1905

Abstract

The industrial development of cities in the Ruhr Area in the nineteenth century is described. The research was based on English and German language sources. Several factors that shaped growth and paths of the cities were categorized and analyzed. They are locations, resources, traditions, entrepreneurs, and technological developments. Locations and resources were the most important among them; other factors may be regarded as consequences from locations and resources. Among the cities, Bochum, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, and Dortmund had the richest resources and most favorable locations in the transportation network and grew to be the largest cities in the Ruhr area near the end of the nineteenth century. Riverside location was also a favorable factor for the development, as shown in the development of Duisburg on the confluence of Rhine and Ruhr. Resource distribution can explain the rise of textile industry, metallurgical industry, and coal and iron industries, and the northward progression of the mining industry. Tradition was an important factor for cities such as Krefeld, Barmen, Elberfeld, Solingen, and Remscheid, which experienced development based on their traditions through the nineteenth century. Various entrepreneurs exerted influences within and beyond the local level over the Ruhr area. Technological development stimulated the northward progression of the mining industry and the deep connection between the coal and the iron industries.

I. Significance and Definition of the Ruhr Area

            Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Ruhr area had not been anticipated to grow to be the industrial hub essential to the European economy (1). Its cities such as Duisburg, Essen, and Dortmund had only moderate size of population in 1800: about 4,000 residents each (2). The area was overall rural and its use was mostly for forestry, grazing, and agriculture. Before 1850, the mining industry of the area existed in a modest scale mainly in the hilly southern regions; in 1850, about 12,000 miners worked to produce 1.5 million tons of coal (3). However, during the second half of the century, the Ruhr area showed dramatic increase in its scale of coal and iron industry, thus transforming itself into the massive industrial core of great renown. Not only to Germany did it grow in importance but to the whole Europe. Especially Germany's neighboring countries, such as France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Netherlands, had their industries much dependent on the Ruhr¡¯s coal, metallurgical coke, iron, steel. By 1910, the area had more than 400,000 miners whose quantity of coal production exceeded 110 million tons a year. For both great quantity and quality of production, the Ruhr area won the acknowledgement as the best coalfield on the whole European continent (4).
            This paper will analyze this interesting and dramatic change of the Ruhr area from a rather rural region into the great industrial area and aim to explain the factors which influenced paths of developments of different cities.
            The Ruhr area¡¯s boundary varies with the purpose and the author. In almost all cases, the region bounded by the Rhine river, the Ruhr river, the Lippe river, and Dortmund is regarded as the essence of the Ruhr area. Scholars often extend this concept to include other closely interrelated regions under the name "the Greater Ruhr Area". For example, in Charle¡¯s definition, Hamm, Lüdenscheid marks the eastern boundary of the "Greater Ruhr Area", Mönchengladbach and Krefeld the western one, and Remscheid and Solingen the southern one (5). Because regional difference and industrial variance are important for this paper's purpose, the Ruhr area will be defined broadly in order to have sufficient level of regional and industrial difference. Table 1.1 shows the cities that will be covered in the Ruhr area and that are the focus of this paper.

Figure 1.1 : Cities, Towns and Rivers in the Ruhr Area, about 1800, after Pounds 1952 pp.35, 39

Table 1.1

Cities, Towns

Barmen, Bochum, Dinslaken, Dortmund, Duisburg, Elberfeld, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Hagen, Hamm, Hattingen, Hörde, Krefeld, Müheim / Ruhr, Oberhausen, Recklinghausen, Remscheid, Ruhrort, Solingen, Sprockhövel, Wesel, Wetter, Witten

Rivers

Emscher, Ennepe, Lippe, Rhine, Ruhr, Volme, Wupper

II. Geography

            The Ruhr basin is higher than the northern plains and lower than the southern hills. The Ruhr area has various kinds of soils. Glacial and terrace gravels, often covered with heath and woodlands, form unfertile soils. So do the marshes along the bottom of the valleys. Meanwhile, the "loess" belt through the Ruhr area¡¯s heart provides a very productive region (6). Coincidentally, this belt approximately conforms to the distribution of the coalfields. The Ruhr area is drained by slow-flowing rivers such as Ruhr, Emscher, Lippe. The rainfall, though less than in the southern hills, is enough to render some ill-drained areas impassable swamps (7).
            The coal is near the surface and thus easy to mine in the southern coalfields of the Ruhr area. However, the coal hides deeper under the cover of Secondary rocks northward. Northern coalfields bear coal of higher volatile content than southern ones. Near the Ruhr river is the southern limit of the coalfield (8).
            The Ruhr river, rising in the hills of the Sauerland, flows to the west across the southern Ruhr Area till it merges with the Rhine. The path of the Ruhr is within the northern edge of the southern hills and is divided from the plain of North Germany only by a single low ridge "Haarstrang" (9). The Haarstrang is very steep toward the Ruhr valley, while having moderate slope northward to the plain. The river is located on the intersection of the old Roman road on the left bank of the Rhine and the migration path of some Germanic tribes to Western Europe (10). This location helped cities develop as commercial and trading centers in the area.
            The plain to the north of the Ruhr valley is drained by the Emscher river. The Emscher is small and slow. Its valley has various soil types: marshes, dry and gravel-covered land, heaths, and rich loess soil. The Emscher valley is separated by a low ridge from that of the Lippe, which joins the Rhine at Wesel and marks the north boundary of the heart of the Ruhr Area.
            The Rhine river, a western landmark in defining the Ruhr area, is often regarded the largest and most easily navigated river of the northwestern Europe. It offered a highway for transporting goods from north to south. It leaves hills near Bonn and flows northward.
            To the south of the Ruhr Area exist the hilly regions and uplands of Sauerland, Bergisches Land and Siegerland. Because of the hills and forests, it is difficult to traverse these areas. In the north, the hills suddenly end roughly along the Ruhr river. These hilly areas have poor soil and harsh climate for agriculture. Whatever agriculture that was practiced was unorganized and done in very small scale (11). The rivers such as Lahn, Sieg, and Wupper are too shallow and swift to be of use for navigation, except for short lengths in their lower courses near the Rhine. However, many swift streams, descending to the Rhine, provide high water power which promoted the development of small metallurgical and textile industries. The rivers of the Sauerland, such as Ennepe, Volme, and Lenne, join the Ruhr near Hagen. The valleys of these rivers were used to be good routes that penetrate the hills. The Ennepe valley and Wupper valley together formed a part of a routeway from the Rhineland to the eastern part of the Ruhr (12). The Siegerland had very high quality iron ores, which explain the prosperity of the iron mining and smelting industries during a few centuries before the rise of the Ruhr area. The Sauerland had low quality iron ores but was well-equipped with a number of small and swift streams that provided water power. Therefore, it had thriving iron-finishing industry. Bergisches Land also had flourishing metal industry.

Figure 2.1 : Iron Ore Mines and Iron Works in the Siegerland, Sauerland and Ruhr Area in the Beginning of the 19th Century, after Pounds 1952 p.35

III. Brief History until the End of the 18th Century

III.1 Politics
            The Ruhr area had experienced severe political division for several centuries before it was unified under Prussian rule. Many constituent petty states were theoretically subjects to the Holy Roman Empire. However, some larger states practically behaved independently in taxing, raising army, and making war and peace. This political division had a large impact on the development of the Ruhr area. The states viewed one another as a competitor and imposed taxes on goods passing through them, which impeded the growth of commerce as a whole (13).
            In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the area was shortly ruled by French under Napoleon. After the end of the Napoleonic wars and Napoleon's defeat, much of the Ruhr area was added to the Prussian territory. After the unification, the area could make more cooperative efforts to achieve industrial development, under the guidance of the enlightenment spirit of the Prussian rule.

Figure 3.1 : The Political Map of the Ruhr Area, about 1800, after Pounds 1952 p.28

III.2 Technology and Industries
            As explained in the previous chapter, the metal industry prospered in Siegerland and Sauerland, of which iron ores and swift streams were beneficial. Around the end of the Middle Ages, the blast furnace was introduced and spread so widely that almost all the smelting works in the Sauerland and Siegerland were done in blast furnaces (14). In the eighteenth century, the Duchy of Berg saw its metal industry decline except in Solingen and Remscheid, because of depletion of both ores and charcoal and difficulty of attaining pit coal. Solingen and Remscheid succeeded to survive as the cities of competent metal industries; former became the center of cutlery manufacture and had many small workshops along the streams near it, while the latter developed as a less specialized center of industry, producing numerous types of iron and steel goods (15). Except in these two areas, the textile manufacturing industry gradually substituted the metal industry in the Berg.
            At the same time, the metal industry of Berg began to spread over into the County of Mark and the Ennepe valley during the eighteenth century. Around 1800, along the Ennepe, Volme, Lenne, and their many small tributaries were the hammer-ponds located very densely. Following factors all helped the Sauerland inherit the spirit of the metal industry in the Berg and succeed to advance as an "industrial hive" : immigrants from the Low Countries, abundant supplies of charcoal, many swift streams, and local deposits of iron ores (16).
            The textile industry had already been widely spread as a domestic manufacture all over Westphalia, the Sauerland and Siegerland before it started to prosper in the Duchy of Berg. Grown on the damp soils of the northern plain, hemp and flax were brought to the south to be bleached in Berg and Mark, where waters were considered very suitable (17). Elberfeld and Barmen emerged to be the leading cities of textile industry. Pressure that the growth of these two cities and their industries gave upon the Wupper valley induced the replacement of bleaching by weaving and dyeing degree by degree. The textile industry of wool and linen spread into the Ennepe valley, the Sauerland's plateau, and the Ruhr valley. Though the industry was prosperous overall, it began to disappear in Mark during the latter half of the eighteenth century (18).
            Agriculture and stock grazing were main works on the broad alluvium belt on the west of the Rhine. The second most popular kind of occupation was cloth manufacturing. Flax was grown and the linen weaving was common (19). The silk industry was introduced into Krefeld in the second half of the seventeenth century and developed during the next century.
            Along the Ruhr basin, which was located at the intersection of two important trading routes, cities such as Duisburg, Essen, and Bochum emerged as commercial and trading posts. The agriculture as well as commerce was the main activity (20). Due to the fertility, the Ruhr basin often exported food to the southern hills of unproductive lands. Until the nineteenth century, agriculture remained a chief occupation of the area even though mining, metal, and textile industries in small scale accompanied.
            During the eighteenth century, textile industry spread into the Ruhr valley, too. Clothe manufacture was vigorous in Hattingen (21). Flax and hemp were grown on the damp soils of the Lippe and Ems valleys. Many towns of the Lippe valley were involved in linen cloth businesses.
            Coal was mined in the Ruhr area as early as in the thirteenth century and shipped down the Rhine to the Siegerland, then center of the smelting industry (22). Mining and coal sale were most predominant nonagricultural activities. After what started, coal mining was concentrated around Essen, M?lheim, Bochum, and other pits along the steep banks of the Ruhr river where deposits were close to the surface (23). The coal were attained from open-pit mining and drifts that were put into the hillside until the end of the eighteenth century (24). These methods could not survive long without pumping machinery. Coal output in Mark had shown steady rise during the latter half of the eighteenth century.
            In 1782, Freiherr vom Stein was appointed by the Prussian government to supervise mines and manufactures in Westphalia. He succeeded to found some obstructions such as small sizes of mines, lack of pumps, difficulty of carrying coal from the mines to the Ruhr river. Due to his continuous effort, the steam-engine was first installed near Unna in 1798 (25).
            Coal was mostly used for heating, not for metal industry. Iron industry also existed in a small scale in the Ruhr area, due to the small quantities of bog iron ore in the marshes of the Lippe and Emscher valleys. Some furnaces were established near the Emscher valley during the eighteenth century and helped the iron industry grow (26).
            Transmitted to the Ruhr area, the traditions of the metal industry from Bergisches land, Sauerland, Siegerland brought out the appearance and development of mining and metallurgical industry in the Ruhr area. However, mining and metal industry should not be seen as leading industry of the Ruhr area before 1800. The textile industry was spread as well, and the agriculture was certainly the predominant activity in the area.

III.2 Transportation
            To the west of the Ruhr area, the Rhine river had long been used as the highway route. With roads undeveloped, "Hellweg" - a trading route along the watershed between Ruhr and Emscher - and the navigable rivers, especially the Rhine, were the most important and useful traffic ways for transportation. Planning for making Ruhr navigable to facilitate transportation was first proposed in 1738 by glass-workers and traders, who recognized the river, once made navigable, would offer a very effective transportation route. However, only in 1778 under the scheme of Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II was the Ruhr made navigable (27). In 1780, the Prussian government appointed Freiherr vom Stein to investigate how to improve the navigation of the Ruhr river.
            In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the poor and often unpaved roads and the navigable rivers such as the Ruhr and the Rhine took charge of most traffic in the Ruhr area. Only after the mid-nineteenth century did the railroads begin to take the function of the main transportation routes from the rivers. The construction of highways and canals in the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century also improved the transportation in the region.

IV. Industrial Development by City

IV.1 Barmen and Elberfeld (Modern Wuppertal)
            Though Barmen and Elberfeld are often excluded from the definition of the central Ruhr area, they are commonly included in that of the Greater Ruhr Area (28). They are located in the Bergisches Land and surrounded by high wooded hills. Near them is the Wupper river, which was a great advantage that helped successful development of bleaching industries in these cities.
            Industrial development of Elberfeld was launched with a colony of bleachers, who in 1532 won the monopoly of bleaching yarn for the Bergisches Land (29). From then, various related industries were introduced and developed diligently. Ribbon making and linen weaving were introduced in the 16th century. Silk manufacture, red-dyeing, lace making followed in the eighteenth century. Bleaching industry spread to Barmen, just to the east of Elberfeld (30). Soon, Barmen grew to be as central a city as Elberfeld in bleaching industry.
            At the beginning of the nineteenth century, these two cities were greatly advanced in both size and industrial development in comparison with the central Ruhr area such as Duisburg, Essen, and Dortmund (31). Hemp and flax grown on the damp soils of the northern plain were often brought to these cities to be bleached. Development of textile industry was spurred by the introduction of cotton cloth manufacture and the rudimentary factory system in Elberfeld and Barmen near 1800 (32). In the mid-nineteenth century, the dominance of factory system led to the rapid decline of domestic spinning and weaving industry performed in the cottages. Expansion of bleaching and textile industry of Barmen and Elberfeld imposed great pressure on the water supply and limited space. To alleviate this pressure, bleaching was by and by replaced by weaving and dyeing (33).
            The line from Steele on the Ruhr, through Kupferdreh, Langenberg, and Neviges, to Vohwinkel in the Wupper valley below Elberfeld was the earliest modern railroad in the Greater Ruhr area and was opened in 1847 (34). The Bergisch-Märkische Bahn (Berg-to Mark Railroad) was under construction about this time, which was to connect Düsseldorf, Elberfeld and the Wupper valley, Hagen, Witten, and Dortmund. Later, it was extended to Hörde, Unna, and Soest. These improvements of transportation gave another impetus to the commercial vitality of these cities.
            Even though the rapid development of coal, iron, and steel industries of the central Ruhr area started to fade out the renown of Elberfeld and Barmen as the industrial heads in the Greater Ruhr area, Elberfeld and Barmen remained great industrial cities as far as textile industry is concerned. Barmen and Elberfeld were the centers of cotton, wool, and silk manufacture, bleaching, and dyeing (35).


IV.2 Bochum
            Bochum developed as one of the commercial cities along the Hellweg, a trading route along the watershed between Ruhr and Emscher. It remained fairly medieval both in aspect and function till 1800, when it had a small population of 2000.
            At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the scale of mining was very humble in Bochum, as in the other Ruhr areas then. Soon, the Gahlen Coal Road was built from the mines near Bochum to the navigable Lippe to facilitate the transportation of the Ruhr coal (36).
            The Bochum basin was one of the few Ruhr basins that produced Fettkohlen (Coking coal). Coking coal was economically the most important because of its use in the coking furnaces. Though much less abundant in the Bochum basin than in the Essen and Emscher basins, coking coal was enough to assist somewhat the development of steel industry in Bochum soon.
            By the mid-nineteenth century, furnaces had been installed to support the puddling works of Bochum (37). A scatter of small miners' cottages was developing. Jacob Mayer, who had first success in steel casting in 1841, established his works in Bochum in 1842 (38). His effort would result in the successful company Bochumer Verein renowned for cast steel goods. This company was the main reason that Bochum could win its fame as a center of manufacture of steel of the highest quality. Moving parts of machines, steel wheels, axles of railway locomotives, and church bells were among the main products (39). Cast steel enabled the finer metallurgical products to be produced in the Ruhr than before. Cast steel production required large quantities of coal, and therefore Bochum with its coal basin near was one of the favorable places for it.
            In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Bochum and Bochumer Verein experienced more spurred growths. Hundreds of thousands of people migrated from the poorer German provinces and Eastern Europe to Ruhr valley in search of work. The Population in Bochum increased tenfold from 1850 to 1890. Coal mines and factories dominated the town's fields and meadows (40).
            Puddling methods were replaced by newly invented methods. In 1860s, the Bessemer converter started to operate. In the 1870s, Bochumer Verein constructed the first blast furnace plant for the metallurgical coke plant and open-hearth furnace plant (41). The railroad reached Bochum near this time, thus giving another impetus for vitality of the company and the city. Thomas process, which was in use around 1880, raised economic values of German ores, which were both low grade and phosphoric (42).
            By 1900, Bochum, a humble and rural town only just a century ago, had developed into the great industrial center of the iron and steel industries, manufacturing cast steel, cast iron, iron pipes, wire and wire ropes, and lamps with some tin and zinc works (43).

Figure 4.1 : Railroads of the Ruhr Area, around 1930, after Pounds 1952 p.213

IV.3 Dinslaken
            From 1540, Dinslaken was a minor Hanseatic city. A horse-drawn regular post service through the line Düsseldorf - Dinslaken - Wesel was established in 1712 (44). Dinslaken became its own district in 1816. A windmill was established in today's suburb Hiesfeld six years later. Until the mid-nineteenth century, Dinslaken remained very rural (45).
            In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Dinslaken experienced accelerated industrial development. A glue factory, a fuel ignition device factory, and a rolling mill were installed. A liquor distillery was also established (46). Several steel-making and metal-using factories were built. Iron foundry work developed with the establishment of steel mill. In 1896, August Josef Thyssen set up an open commercial company in Dinslaken. A year later, the rolling mill "Deutscher Kaiser" was under construction and first rolling attempts were made by August Thyssen (47). Pig iron from the smelting works in Hamborn supplied the Dinslaken steel works (48).
            Dinslaken, located in the outer Ruhr area, was late to have industrial development and had small size compared to the cities in the center of the Ruhr area, such as Dortmund, Essen, and Bochum.


IV.4 Dortmund
            Dortmund is located on the Emscher in a fertile plain near the eastern boundary of the Ruhr area. In the thirteenth century, it joined the Hanseatic League and gained the status of an Imperial Free City. Like Bochum and Essen, it was commercial city along the Hellweg. In 1803, Dortmund lost its free city status and was annexed to Nassau. After some political changes, it finally ended up being a Prussian city in 1815 (49).
            In 1800, Dortmund was a humble city with only 4,000 inhabitants (50). However, due to the favorable situation of the town in the center of the Westphalian coal basin and extensive beds of iron ore in the vicinity, it could successfully develop to be the leading industrial city and compete with Essen, Oberhausen, Duisburg and Hagen in the iron industry (51).
            Improved transportation system gave further advantage to the location of the town. The Köln-Mindener Railroad opened in 1847 to connect Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Dortmund, Hamm, and Minden. The Bergisch-Märkische Railroad was soon built and went through Düsseldorf, Elberfeld, Hagen, Witten, and Dortmund (52).
            By 1874, Dortmund took over the role of iron mass production from Duisburg (53). On the western edge of the city, blast furnaces and steel works of Dortmunder Union and Carl von Born flourished. On the eastern edge, Eberhard Hoesch founded a steel works in 1871. Bessemer and Thomas processes, which were particularly valuable for processing German ores, began to be used at both Dortmunder Union and Hoesch (54). The city was practically dominated by two industrial powers, Dortmunder Union and Hoesch.
            In 1877, as the importance of overseas ore increased, plan for the canal construction from Dortmund to the river Ems was suggested in the Reichstag (55). It was adopted in 1886, and the canal construction was completed at the end of the nineteenth century. Though insignificant until a few decades later, Dortmund-Ems canal greatly facilitated the import of overseas ore soon (56). Ruhrschnellweg (Ruhr Fast Road) also contributed the importance of Dortmund as a center of transportation network.
            With two flourishing steel works, Dortmunder Union and Hoesch, Dortmund showed relatively varied industrial structure in comparison with Essen and Bochum, which were dominated by a single industrial concern. Railway rails, wire ropes, machinery, safes and sewing machines were among the iron products of Dortmund (57). Large breweries also existed.

Figure 4.2 : Navigable Waterways of the Ruhr Area, around 1930, after Pounds 1952 p.205

IV.5 Duisburg
            Duisburg is situated in the lower Rhineland near the confluence of the Rhine and Ruhr rivers. A former Hanseatic city, Duisburg thrived due to the tobacco and textile industries in the eighteenth century.
            Even in the beginning of the nineteenth century, large coal trade along the Rhine existed. Duisburg built a canal to have access with the lower Ruhr and thus to have a share in the coal trade along the Ruhr and the Rhine, which was dominated by Ruhrort (58). The rise of sugar refinery, sulfuric acid plant, tobacco plants, and cotton manufacturing is attributed to the city's geographic advantage of being on important trade routes of the Hellweg and the Rhine (59). These industries were based mostly on imported materials.
            Throughout the nineteenth century, diverse industries were set up and flourished in Duisburg and aided its industrial growth. In 1824, the sulfuric acid factory Fr. W. Curtius was constructed. Franz Haniel built a dockyard for steamships four years later. First local small iron foundry Borussiahütte (Borussia ironwork) was established on the Rhine canal in 1844.
            Improvement of the transportation such as the opening of Köln-Mindener Railroad in 1847 and canal construction from the Ruhr to the Rhine by Duisburg gave great benefit to Duisburg (60). Therefore, large coal demand from the local iron smelting and metal working became easier to satiate by moving the coal along the railways.
            Duisburg was the only city with heavy chemicals production near 1850. The Curtius plant produced the sulphuric acid. The Duisburger Kupferhütte (Copper work) was built along the river bank south of the city in 1857. Iron smelting and machine construction now occupied significant part of the Duisburg industry. Rolling mill and metallurgical plants were established. Two coal mines were sunk. Tobacco processing, sugar refining, chemical production, and textiles all remained important as well. Steam engine usage increased (61). Hütte Vulkan (Volcano Ironwork), Niederrheinische ironwork, and the Johannis ironwork were set up between the Ruhr and the Rhine. August Thyssen first attempted a small steel works at Duisburg, while blast furnaces were erected under Krupp concern.
            It cannot be emphasized too much that Duisburg was extremely important in the transportation network system of the Ruhr area. Located near both the Ruhr and the Rhine and connected with important cities in the inner Ruhr area through two important roads Ruhrschnellweg and Autobahn, Duisburg enjoyed its great situational advantage. While the docks of Ruhrort handled little except coal, coke, and iron ore, those of Duisburg dealt with various products such as timber, cotton, raw wool, grain, and oil seeds (62). Duisburg, unlike most cities in the central Ruhr area, showed great variance in its industrial development. Steelworks existed in harmony with numerous makers of bridges, cranes, boilers, ovens, chains, and machines of various kinds, and shipbuilding yards.

Figure 4.3 : Street-car Routes of the Ruhr Area, around 1930, after Pounds 1952 p.215

IV.6 Düsseldorf
            Düsseldorf is seated on the right bank of the Rhine. Until the eighteenth century, Düsseldorf was overshadowed by the growth of Köln. Though a quay was built in the fifteenth century and though a dock was added in the seventeenth century in Düsseldorf, Köln obstinately insisted on its privilege on the Rhine traffic and was hostile to the potential rival Düsseldorf and hindered its development (63). The possibility opened for Düsseldorf to grow into a great port and industrial city when the ancient prerogatives of Köln were abolished under Napoleonic rule.
            Düsseldorf was the capital of the Duchy of Berg. It was handed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815. Despite the privileges of Köln, it somehow had managed to handle an import of sugar, tobacco, grain, metals, and timber, which in turn aroused local industries. Around the mid-nineteenth century, Düsseldorf had become one of the most important steel-using centers. Riverside location and favorable railroad connection functioned as advantages. Though steel goods were vigorously produced, little smelting was done in the city (64).
            No single or even branch of industry dominated Düsseldorf as in Bochum and Essen, but a number of somewhat large steel-making and steel-finishing works existed together with smaller, more varied works. Düsseldorf was the major banking center of the Westphalian coal and iron trade and had cotton spinning, weaving, calico printing, yarn-spinning, dyeing and other various industries as well as iron industries (65). With Duisburg, it functioned as the western hub of transportation of the Ruhr area.

IV.7 Essen
            Essen was one of the Hanseatic cities in the fourteenth and fifteenth century. Like Bochum, it was one of the commercial cities that developed along the Hellweg in the Middle Ages. It had made no further progress than remaining almost medieval until 1800, when it had population of only 4,000 (66).
            From the beginning of the nineteenth century, basis for industrialization began to be set up in Essen. Prussia annexed Essen in 1802 and organized the small existent mining industry more effectively than before. Franz Dinnendahl devised the first conveyor steam engine in 1809, which played a very significant role in stimulating deep-cast coal mining in the near future (67).
            Coking coal of high economic value was more abundant in the Essen basin than in the Bochum basin. The Haniel family, who had been coal traders, started to participate in mining industry with financial support from the wealth they acquired from coal transportation business along the Ruhr and the Rhine by barge (68). The first shaft Zeche Kronprinz (Coalmine Crown Prince) was sunk through the thick cover of rocks near Essen to obtain coal hidden below it.
            In 1826, Alfred Krupp inherited the cast steel works from his father, who found out how to produce a cast steel, but who had financial failure (69). Alfred Krupp invented the seamless wheel flange for the railways in 1852, which aided the firm in growing into the giant company in the nineteenth century. Moving parts of machines, axles of railway locomotives, heavy guns and armor-plate were other major products of the company.
            In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Essen expanded even to absorb villages and farmsteads in the surrounding countries into its suburbs (70). It was a center of steelmaking and steel-using, rather than that of iron-smelting. Iron ore supply on its own stayed insignificant relative to ore supplies from the Siegerland and England during the nineteenth century. Numerous steel works, machine shops, and factory buildings were established.
            Essen's population reached 100,000 in 1896. Essen was at the center of the railway network, which endowed it with access to various Westphalian iron and coal fields. The large iron and coal fields of the Essen basin contributed to Essen's great prosperity. Krupp's company was also vital to the city's development because it expended much in building and supporting different local facilities (71). Woolen goods and cigars were also produced, and dyeing works and breweries also existed.

IV.8 Gelsenkirchen
            Gelsenkirchen is located in the far west of Dortmund, north-west of Bochum. Though documented as early as 1150, the growth of the city was mostly due to the industrialization in the nineteenth century (72). In 1800, still a village, it was sparsely populated. Even near 1850, only a small cluster of cottages existed in Gelsenkirchen. However, the great improvement of the transportation system and the northward progression of the coal mining from the central Ruhr area resulted in the vigorous industrial development of the city.
            Coal was discovered here in 1840. Subsequently, the K?ln-Minden Railway and the Gelsenkirchen Railway station were opened. Friedrich Grillo, an active promoter of mining development in Gelsenkirchen, established Aktiengesellschaft für Chemische Industrie (Corporation for Chemical Industry) and Gewerkschaft Schalker Eisenhütte (Schalker Ironwork Association) in Schalke in 1872 (73). Soon, Glas- und Spiegel-Manufaktur AG (Glass and Mirror Production Company) was also founded. Grillo was the main concern and single greatest patron of the industry of Gelsenkirchen.
            Gelsenkirchen successfully transformed into the center of heavy industry with rising population and signed the town charter in 1875. Surrounding smaller districts were absorbed into the expanding city. Though iron furnaces, steel and boiler works, and soap, glass and chemical factories existed, coal production was the largest concern in Gelsenkirchen (74).

IV.9 Hagen
            Well-wooded hills surround Hagen located at the junction of the Ennepe and Volme. Due to the affluent sources of water power along the rivers Ruhr, Ennepe, and Volme, metal processing flourished in Hagen from the medieval age. Textile, steel, and paper works were begun in the seventeenth or eighteenth century.

            Eberhard Pfandh?ffer set up a blast furnace and experimented in smelting with coal in the beginning of the nineteenth century, but failed as a businessman (75). The Bergisch-Märkische Railroad built near 1850 aided in supplying ores and coals to the local industries of Hagen. Cast steel workings existed in small scale by 1850. Markanahütte (Markana Ironwork) at Haspe, which was built in 1830s, was revived in 1853. Production of knives also existed and retained the tradition of the old local steel industry (76).
            From long ago, Hagen had been a center of steel production and significant in its output of puddle and cement steel (77). Near the end of the nineteenth century, numerous steel-making and steel-using firms operated in Hagen. Markana Ironwork ceased production, but puddling works at Haspe remained important. They became A.-G. Hasper Eisen- und Stahlwerk (Hasper Iron and Steelwork Company) in 1894. Blast furnaces and rolling mills were built time to time.
            Hagen was linked to Bochum and Wuppertal through the street-car system. At the junction of important railway lines, it connects the principal towns of the Westphalian iron district (78). One of the most thriving commercial towns in Westphalia, Hagen has no single dominant industrial company. It possesses huge iron and steel works, large cotton print works, woolen and cotton factories, manufactures of leather, paper, tobacco, breweries and distilleries.

IV.10 Hagen
            Hamm is located northeast of Dortmund, near the Lippe river. It was a Hanseatic city in the region in the Medieval Age. Wars in the seventeenth and eighteenth century led to the decline of the city, but it was soon revitalized by the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century (79).
            In 1847, the Köln-Mindener Railroad connected Hamm with other important industrial cities Westphalia, and the industrial growth of Hamm started. The Westfälische Union was founded in 1853, which would be Thyssen Draht AG (Thyssen Wire Company) in the future. Three years later, Westfälische Draht Industrie (Westphalia Wire Industry) was founded.
            Near the end of the nineteenth century, metal-using works had been well-developed in the city. Along the line stretching from Essen to Hamm, a number of mines producing coking coal and cokeries had been founded (80).
            Without doubt, the wire was dominant product of Hagen and Westf?lische Draht Industrie produced over half the total wire goods made in the Ruhr area (81). Many wire factories were coexistent with puddling and rolling works. The machine works and manufactures of gloves, baskets, leather, starch, chemicals, varnish, oil and beer also belonged to the city (82). As a junction of important railways near the eastern end of the Ruhr area, Hamm also played a significant role in the transportation system of the Ruhr area.

IV.11 Hattingen
            Hattingen is a city on the Ruhr, northeast of Düsseldorf. Hattingen was the most important commercial center in the west of the county Mark in the fifteenth century (83). The development was restrained by the wars in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but stimulated again by the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century.
            It had active cloth production works in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Lime stone existed near the city (84). In the mid-nineteenth century, discovery of the Hattinger Spateisenflöz - name of an iron ore deposit - which led to the introduction of the heavy industry and the diminishment of the significance of the textile industry (85). Henrichshütte (Henrich Ironwork) was founded in 1851, which would become one of the greatest blast furnace works along the Ruhr valley.
            The improvement of the navigation along the Ruhr river ensured the traffic to Hattingen (86). In 1869, Hattingen received a railway connection. Of all the blast furnace works along the Ruhr valley, only the Henrichshütte grew with stability and kept pace with modern development (87). A number of smelting and steel works existed, though in a smaller scale than those in the cities to the north such as Dortmund and Bochum. Tobacco manufacturing also lasted.

IV.12 Hörde (Modern Dortmund-Hörde)
            Hörde is located to the south of Dortmund and has the river Emscher flowing through it. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Ruhr area had good prospect in the mining and export of coal rather than in the metallurgical industry. However, when coal measures iron ore was discovered, the situation turned favorable also for the development of the metallurgical industry. Hörde was one of the first places to attempt the metallurgical industry.
            When a deposit of blackband ore was found in the coal measures to the south of Dortmund in the mid-nineteenth century, the first blast furnace since the eighteenth century was built at Hörde. Hermann Diedrich Piepenstock, a wire drawer from the Sauerland, had established a puddling works Hermannshütte ("Hermann's ironworks") in 1841. About ten years later, promoted by von Mevissen's Schaaffhausen'scher Bankverein (Bank Association) of Köln, his works became the Hörder Bergwerks und Hütten Verein ("Ironworks Association") (88). One of the iron works Hörder Verein was famous as the pioneer of the basic process in Germany (89). Constructions of other several furnaces followed to smelt the blackband ore.
            About 1860, the iron industry flourished at Hörde, though only few, such as the Hörder Verein, of these early ironworks survived until the middle of the next century. The Bergisch-Märkische Railroad was built to connect Hörde with other industrial hubs about 1850 (90).
            By the end of the nineteenth century, large smelting works, foundries, puddling-works, rolling-mills were in operation at Hörde. Iron and plated wares manufacture prospered (91).

IV.13 Krefeld
            Major growth of Krefeld was started in the seventeenth century. Heinrich von der Leyen, a Dutch Mennonite refugee, introduced the silk industry into Krefeld in the second half of the seventeenth century. The industry proved to be very successful, and eleven factories were in operation in 1809. Most of the raw silk was imported from Italy. As early as in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the rudimentary factory system was being employed in Krefeld (92).
            Throughout the mid-nineteenth century, silk industry was dominant with about two hundred silk mills in existence. The dyeing industry began to develop along. Other smaller industries were set up to improve the stability of the industry in Krefeld as a whole. Krefeld experienced rapid growth due to the influx of workers from surrounding countryside (93).
            Until the end of the nineteenth century, the main industry of Krefeld was concerned with silk and dyeing. Exceptionally, an important chemical factory was established in Uerdingen (today Bayer Uerdingen) in 1877. A liquor distillery, Dujardin, was set up in 1900 (94). Also, production of significantly high quality of steel would develop soon in Krefeld (95).

IV.14 Mülheim an der Ruhr
            Mülheim is located on the Ruhr, to the west of Essen. Before the nineteenth century, the leather and textile industry which consumed water from the Ruhr existed in a modest scale. Locks had been built and cargo shipping along the Ruhr prospered by the nineteenth century (96).
            Water was the major route of coal trade in the Ruhr area. The Ruhr river and ports of Mülheim and Ruhrort were almost monopolistic on this coal trade. Matthias Stinnes, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, started a regular service of coal barges from Mülheim to Köln and Rotterdam. The barges often returned to Mülheim with textiles, colonial goods, grain, and salt. In 1843, Stinnes replaced the horse-drawn barges by steam tugs. New harbor with coal-storage space opened in 1841 (97).
            Until the significance of the Ruhr river as the transportation route declined because of the development of railroads, Mülheim was a flowering center of coal trade along the Ruhr river. Several international companies were also founded. Because of the topography, early railroads were built to the north of Mülheim and Essen. It became easier to deliver coal by rail to Ruhrort than to Mülheim - Mülheim had only one-tenth as much amount of coal shipping as Ruhrort did in 1864 (98). As the coal shipping declined, Mülheim experienced structural change. The mining, iron and metal processing industries gained importance (99). Thyssen works existed in large scale. By the end of the nineteenth century, Mülheim was chiefly engaged in iron-working and contained numerous blast-furnaces, rolling-mills, foundries and engineworks. Though not as dominant as in the early nineteenth century, the coal traffic by rail and river was still enormous. Timber and colonial produced also composed considerable amount of trade (100).

IV.15 Oberhausen
            Oberhausen is situated near the east bank of the Rhine, to the northeast of D?sseldorf. Smelting technology was introduced long before the mid-nineteenth century (101). The oldest steel mill was established in 1758. However, the city was mostly rural until boom of coal mining and steel production near 1860. After the mid-nineteenth century, the city expanded to absorb several nearby villages. Oberhausen smelting works depended heavily on imports. It also possessed iron-rolling mills. Gutehoffnungshütte ("Good Hope" ironwork) was prevalent works in the town (102).
            With large ironworks, coal-mines, rolling-mills, zinc smelting-works, railway workshops and manufactures of wire-rope, glass, chemicals, porcelain and soap, Oberhausen, sometimes called "cradle of Ruhr industry", had grown into the city of diverse industries by the end of the nineteenth century (103).

IV.16 Recklinghausen
            Recklinghausen is placed between the Emscher and Lippe, to the northeast of Dortmund. It belonged to the archbishopric of Köln until 1803 and was handed to Prussian rule in 1815 (104).
            The city experienced change from a humble town of mere two thousand people to the great industrial city of more than forty thousand people. This development was mainly due to the growth of coal industry in the Emscher valley and mostly undergone in the second half of the nineteenth century (105). Charcoal was obtained from the woods of Recklinghausen. The factory system was introduced after 1850 (106). Recklinghausen railway station was opened in 1877. By the end of the century, Recklinghausen was a well-developed city with extensive streetcar-system, coal-mines, brick-works, and the manufacture of linen, beer, and tobacco (107).

IV.17 Remscheid and Solingen
            Remscheid is situated on an elevated plateau, to the south of Barmen and northeast of Köln. It already had well-established tradition of metal working passed on from before the nineteenth century (108). Unlike those of Solingen, iron and steel products of Remscheid had great variance. By the mid-nineteenth century, Mannesmann started cast steel production at Remscheid. Remscheid fabricated steel from Siegen and also produced files, saws, and other cutting tools. Spinning and weaving virtually vanished.
            Strong local tradition and excellence of craftsmanship were helpful in retaining success of iron and steel working industry. No single industrial concern controlled the city, but units of small to medium size were in the city. Most of them were related to the finishing processes (109). By 1900, Remscheid had become the center of the hardware industry. Tools, scythes, skates and other small goods of iron, steel, and brass were made for export (110).
            To the west of the Wupper river and Remscheid is Solingen. Sword-blades have been made at Solingen since the early middle ages (111). In the beginning of the nineteenth century, Solingen was already famous as the center of cutlery manufacture (112). The strong local tradition and craftsmanship helped maintain the vitality of production of cutting tools. Around 1900, manufactures of weapons and various kinds of tools, files and saws also had experienced fast growth (113). Solingen was more specialized in particular products than Remscheid. The iron and steel products of Solingen enjoyed international reputation and often were exported (114).

IV.18 Ruhrort (Modern Duisburg-Ruhrort)
            Ruhrort is situated at the confluence of the Ruhr with the Rhine. Ruhrort had long been participated in the profitable coal trade along the Ruhr and the Rhine (115). In 1701, the town fell to Prussia. A dock was dug at an old mouth of the Ruhr, and Ruhrort took responsibility for considerable amount of coal traffic down the river Ruhr from Mülheim. Freiherr vom Stein proposed a plan to establish a coal depot at Ruhrort and to improve the navigation of the Ruhr (116). This plan was realized and stimulated the development of Ruhrort further.
            As the waterway transportation remained significant even until the end of the nineteenth century, Ruhrort continued to prosper as a port city throughout the century. It was more convenient to deliver coal by rail from the central Ruhr area to Ruhrort than to Mülheim and had better access to the rivers than Duisburg. Therefore, the function of Ruhrort as a port exceeded much that of Duisburg and Mülheim (117). Docks were newly built and extended. Tugs and barges were constructed.
            The Haniel family dominated the coal trade of Ruhrort. Ruhrort also had large scale of smelting works, which were primarily based on imports (118). In 1852, Phönix company established a works at Laar, close to Ruhrort. The company began to dominate the iron industry of the city. The Rheinische Stahlwerke (The Rhine Steelwork) plant at Ruhrort, which opened in 1870, was almost first to obtain right to use Thomas process (basic converter process).
            Ruhrort docks increased steadily. It practiced almost monopoly on the coal trade (119). The coal was sent principally to South Germany and the Netherlands. Grain and timber were also exported, and iron ore was imported. The city possessed massive iron and steel works, shipbuilding yards and tanneries (120).

IV.19 Sprockhövel
            Sprockhövel is located to the southeast of Hattingen and to the south of the Ruhr river. Since the Middle Ages, a coal mining industry had existed on small scale. Sprockhövel came under the Prussian rule in 1815. During the nineteenth century, many coal mines were founded, and iron ores were also smelted and processed. Coal and iron industry were the main contributions to the economy of Sprockh?vel. The city also contained mechanical engineering industry (121).
            However, Sprockh?vel was less industrialized than the Ruhr area to the north, which had much richer coalfields. Almost all mines ceased working near 1900, and the city retained noticeable degree of rural aspects (122).

IV.20 Wesel
            Wesel was a fortress town at the confluence of the Rhine and the Lippe. After the Napoleonic Wars, the town became the Prussian territory in 1815. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was the largest town north of the Ruhr river. It was a vigorous commercial city that had taken partly the function of Duisburg.
            Soon after 1800, Gahlener Kohlenweg (Gahlen Coal Road) was constructed from the mines near Bochum to the navigable Lippe (123). Wesel saw its commercial importance increase along with the importance of Lippe as the transportation route. Wesel maintained its commercial significance until the end of the nineteenth century, carrying on considerable trade in grain, timber, colonial goods, tobacco. It also manufactured wire, leaden pipes and other metal goods (124).
            Though commercially important, Wesel was a little detached from the industrial centers of the Ruhr area. Despite development of infrastructures such as Rhine-bridges, harbors, and several railway lines, Wesel¡¯s traits as the fortress town constrained its industrial development. The de-fortification in 1890 was too late to foster the industrial growth of the town (125).

IV.21 Wetter
            Wetter is on the Ruhr river, to the southeast of Witten. It was the main place examined in 1784 by Freiherr vom Stein who sought improvement in mining conditions and plans for developments in the future (126). In 1819, Friedrich Harkort established the first mechanical workshop which produced steam engines, gas light instruments, and other various machine goods. He is also attributed to the installment of the first puddling furnace in the Ruhr area at Wetter in 1826 (127).
            Cast steel began to be produced about 1850. Several small works produced steel castings, plates, and boilers. Earlier works set up by Friedrich Harkort had ripened into the engineering firm Märkische Maschinenbauanstalt A.-G. (Mark mechanical engineering instution) Ludwig Stuckenholz, which generated castings, rolled goods, and built cranes. Wetter was a substantial place of German mechanical engineering. Though humble compared to the works of the cities to the north, many smelting and steel works existed at Wetter (128).

IV.22 Witten
            Witten is among the coal-fields of the Ruhr, to the east of Essen and to the northeast of Elberfeld. Coke had been produced before 1800 near Witten, and small quantities had been sent south to the smelting works around Siegen. By 1801, Witten was the practical limit of the navigable Ruhr river. Mines developed densely along both banks of the Ruhr river from Kettwig up to Witten (129). About 1850, Witten started to produce steel.
            In the late nineteenth century, the Bergisch-Märkische Railway was built to offer Witten links to other important cities (130). Steel-making, steel-casting, and mechanical-engineering firms had been established. J. D. Neuhaus was a famous winch producing enterprise in Heven. It fastly developed during the nineteenth century as the demand for winches rose from the growth of mining industry, railway system, and lock constructions (131). Carl Ludwig Berger founded a significant cast-steel plant "Gussstahl-Werk Witten" in 1853 (132). Witten had germinated the steel industry considerably, but was still small in size and function compared to the important industrial centers to the north (133).

V. Conclusive Analysis

            The factors upon which development of cities in the Ruhr area were dependent can be categorized in various ways. In this paper, they will be divided into six categories and analyzed: politics, location and transportation, resources, technology, tradition, and entrepreneurs. However, one single factor should not be seen as a guarantee of success. A successful industrial development needed a combination of different factors.

V.1 Politics
            Before the nineteenth century, the Ruhr area was a divided territory practically ruled by different authorities. States in the Ruhr area usually regarded one another as a competitor, and this situation was an obstruction to the effective growth of the Ruhr area as a whole.
            In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Ruhr area underwent the Napoleonic Wars. Destruction was not the only consequence of the Wars. The resultant French rule facilitated the area by revoking tolls and restrictions on the trade along the Rhine river, whose effectiveness as highway of trade was impaired by competitive tolls imposed by different states nearby.
            After the defeat of Napoleon, the area was handed to the Prussian rule. The Prussian rule was also beneficial to the development of the area. It now launched organized and planned industrialization of the area. Moreover, after unified, the previous competitive states now tended to be more cooperative with one another and thus stimulated effective development of the area. Prussian administrators also tried to delay the development of facilities of higher education in the Ruhr area, to spare human resources for the industrial purposes.

V.2 Location and Transportation
            Location is perhaps the most important factor among the six categories for the Ruhr area. A city's growth was very dependent on the distance from and connection with the central Ruhr area between the Emscher and the Ruhr.

Figure 5.1 : Population of the Cities, 1905 after Jan Lahmeyer, Population Statistics : Germany, Urban Centers

            As shown in the figure, the cities between the Ruhr river and the Emscher river were largest. These cities, Bochum, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, and Dortmund, enjoyed rich resources and excellent transportation system. They undoubtedly composed the core of the Ruhr industrial area and leading centers of industrial developments. It is noticeable that despite this seemingly favorable location, Hörde was exceptionally small. It is possible that its growth was severely shadowed by the development of giant city to the adjacent north Dortmund. Also, figure 4.3 reveals Hörde received very poor transportation connection compared to Dortmund.
            Cities such as Dinslaken, Recklinghausen, Wesel, Barmen, Elberfeld, and Krefeld were too far away from the cities of the central Ruhr area to have deep connection with them. Dinslaken and Recklinghausen were late to start industrial development because of their long distances from the central Ruhr and achieved only limited growth as shown in Figure 5.1. Wesel to the distant north was also a commercial town detached from the central Ruhr area and witnessed its significance as once the largest city to the north of the Ruhr river sink. Remscheid and Solingen, though fairly well grown, were basically independent from the industries of the central Ruhr area; their achievements were results of their long traditions of metallurgical industries. Notably large sizes of Barmen, Elberfeld, and Krefeld were also not owing to their interrelations with the central Ruhr area, but to their deep-rooted and excellent textile industries.
            Mülheim, Ruhrort, and Duisburg thrived as port cities due to their suitable positions near the Rhine and the Ruhr and thus joined the group of large Ruhr cities. They all managed considerable amount of coal trade along the rivers, and Ruhrort was the most dominant among them. They also imported various materials from outside the Ruhr area. Even among them, different locations led to different fates. Because of topographical reasons, the early railroads were built to the north of M?lheim and thus strengthened dominance of already prevalent Ruhrort.
            Düsseldorf achieved successful development in spite of their far distance from the central Ruhr area and benefited from their riverside locations. Düsseldorf was very important for the Rhine traffic and became western hub of the Ruhr transportation system. It succeeded in fostering numerous steel-using, steel-making, and steel-finishing works.
            Sprockhövel, Hattingen, Witten, and Wetter near the Ruhr river experienced early developments of mining industry, but these developments were short-term. These cities faced stagnancy due to the progression of mining industry toward the richer coalfields to the north. Many once operating mines in these cities closed near the end of the nineteenth century. However, located relatively close to the central Ruhr area, Witten could continue and promote its industrial development fairly well by engaging in steel industry since 1850. Hagen, though near the Ruhr river, benefited from its riverside position. Hagen's development to be center of steel production was assisted by its tradition of metallurgical industry, which employed well water power of many fast streams that Hagen had nearby.

V.3 Technology
            Technological developments also affected industrial patterns of the Ruhr area. Near the early development, only basic mining technology such as open-pit and drift mining was available and was used primarily to obtain coal near surface in the cities near and on the Ruhr river. Soon, deep-cast coal mining and shaft mining were introduced and enabled to coal buried deeper. This development of mining technology thus promoted the northward progression of the mining industry and brought light to the northern cities.
            Introduction of the factory system stimulated further growth of textile industries in Barmen and Elberfeld and decline of the domestic spinning and weaving in cottages. Highly fine metallurgical products were able to be produced after the cast steel production began. Early coal usage was mostly for heating. However, new processes and technology of iron industry, such as the cast steel production, needed large quantities of coal and thus created interrelation between the coal and the iron industry.

V.4 Tradition
            Long-standing traditions survived and even determined the industry in some cities during the nineteenth century. Krefeld prospered with silk industry, which was first introduced in the seventeenth century. Bleaching industry had developed since the sixteenth century in Elberfeld, which had once practiced monopoly on bleaching yarns for the Berg. Metal products of international renown in Remscheid and Solingen were also results of the long local tradition and craftsmanship.
            Yet, outside influences were as important as local traditions in the Ruhr area, as implied by the fact that immigrants heavily outnumbered the local population and developed a melting pot identity and a peculiar dialect in the core Ruhr region.

V.5 Resources
            Resource was as an important determinant as a location in the development of the cities. Water source often promoted textile industry, small streams fostered metallurgical industry, and coalfield and iron ores were critical to the great industrial development. The Ruhr basin possessed fertile soil, which led the region to engage in agriculture before the industrialization and to export some foods to the unproductive southern hills. Before the nineteenth century, Mülheim had a textile industry based on the water supply of the Ruhr river. Lack of sufficient iron ores and charcoal were the main reason for the decline of the metal industry in the Duchy of Berg. Meanwhile, the Sauerland could inherit the spirit of the metallurgical industry from Berg due to a number of swift streams and considerable amount of iron ores.
            Suitable water sources enabled Berg and Mark to develop early the bleaching and textile industry. The bleaching industry of Barmen and Elberfeld benefited from the Wupper river, but soon weaving and dyeing gradually substituted bleaching which imposed too much pressure that bleaching imposed on water and land resources. Bochum, Essen, and Dortmund could foster large steel industry which needed their Fettkohlen (Coking coal).
            Coalfield distribution also substantially contributed to the industrial pattern in the Ruhr area. Coal near the south was near the surface and thus very easy to mine. In contrast, coal to the north went deeper under the ground and was hard to obtain, but it contained more volatile components and thus had more usage than the southern coal. The fact that mining the northern coal of high quality needed more refined and developed technology induced the northward stride of the industrial center point in the Ruhr area throughout the nineteenth century.

V.6 Entrepreneurs
            A number of entrepreneurs made great contributions to the industrial rise of the Ruhr area. Some were such powerful businessmen that almost controlled the fates of their basis cities. Their pioneering attempts sometimes led to not only improvements of not only their companies but also the Ruhr area as a whole. Some were of local importance, while others were of importance beyond local level.
            A group of founding fathers of businesses and works appeared in the late nineteenth century and the twentieth century. Friedrich Krupp established Krupp cast steel factory in Essen in the early nineteenth century. Eberhard Hoesch spied then the most modern steel production in England and founded Hoesch, one of the most powerful companies in Dortmund. Jacob Mayer's Bochumer Verein was renowned for the cast steel goods. It dominated Bochum, whose fame as a center of cast steel manufacture heavily depended on Bochumer Verein. Jacob Wilhelm Haniel and his wife Aletta Haniel ran a successful trade business in and around Duisburg. August Thyssen had influences over various cities. He possessed a commercial company in Dinslaken, a small steel works at Duisburg, a wire company in Hamm, and many works in Mülheim. Friedrich Harkort ran a mechanical workshop in Wetter.
            Many talented entrepreneurs succeeded these founders and led the major developments of the businesses and works. It was usual that founders handed their works to their posterity or relatives. Alfred Krupp, after taking place of Friedrich Krupp, became one of the strongest and most influential businessmen in the Ruhr area. He had a giant steel production company in Essen and blast furnaces in Duisburg. Essen was very dependent on him who paid even for public buildings and local facilities in Essen. After the founder Eberhard Hoesch retired, Hoesch AG was operated under his nephew Leopold Hoesch. Afterward, Leopold's son Eberhard Hoesch managed the company. Leopold and his son Eberhard Hoesch led Hoesch AG to the further growth. Wilhelm and Aletta's two sons Franz and Gerhard Haniel took over responsibility for the Haniel trading business and coal industry from their parents and strengthened the Haniel family's power. The Haniel family prevailed in the coal trade in Ruhrort. Based on the wealth acquired from the coal trade, the family attempted to work on mining industry in Essen. Louis and Friedrich Baare directed Bochumer Verein's development after Jacob Mayer withdrew. August's son Fritz Thyssen continued Thyssen companies. Friedrich Grillo, who inherited an enterprise from his father, became the single greatest patron of the industrial development of Gelsenkirchen. In the city, he started a chemical industry corporation, a Schalker ironwork association, a glass and mirror production company. Hermann Diedrich Piepenstock, who received bronze and brass manufactures from his father Caspar Piepenstock, established Hermannshütte in Hörde.

Notes

(1)      Pounds 1952 p.21
(2)      Jackson 1997 p.3
(3)      Number of miners and coal produced in tons based on K. Tenfelde, Sozialgeschichte der Bergarbeiterschaft an der Ruhr im 19. Jahrhundert, Bonn/Bad Godesberg 1977, quoted in Brüggemeier 2002 p.108
(4)      Parker & Pounds 1957 p.218, Brooks & Lacroix 1925 p.21
(5)      Sawyer included Hamm, Lüdenscheid to mark the eastern boundary, Mönchengladbach, Krefeld as western boundary, Remscheid, Solingen as the southern ones of the "Greater Ruhr Area", excluding Bocholt, Borken, Cologne, Aachen, Leverkusen. For more discussion of the Ruhr Area's definition, see Sawyer 1949 pp.2-3; With the Siegerland, Aachen, Cologne excluded, Pounds considered Krefeld, Düsseldorf, and Hagen as part of the "Ruhr Area", Wuppertal and textile industries on the left bank of the Rhine as part of the "Greater Ruhr Area", Pounds 1952 p.25
(6)      For more discussion of the loess belt, see Pounds 1952 pp.24, 28
(7)      Pounds 1952 p.28
(8)      Sawyer 1949 p.3
(9)      Pounds 1952 p.30
(10)      Sawyer 1949 p.3, Jackson 1997 p.2
(11)      Pounds 1952 p.34
(12)      ibid. p.30
(13)      ibid. p.56, Parker & Pounds 1957 p.98
(14)      Pounds 1952 p.37
(15)      Sawyer 1949 p.3, Pounds 1952 p.38
(16)      Pounds 1952 pp.39-40
(17)      P. Benearts, Les Origines de la Grande Industrie allemande, Paris, 1933, pp. 97ff.; Briefe eines reisenden Franzosen über Deutschland (1784), ii, 373; Steins Briefwechsel, I, 142; J. F. Knapp, Regenten- und Volks-Geschichte der Länder Cleve, Mark, Jülich, Berg und Ravensberg, Krefeld, 1846, I, 75-8. quoted. in Pounds 1952 p.40
(18)      See why in Thun, op. cit; von Kürten, op. cit; J. R. Rodan, op. cit; E. Voye, Geschichte der Industrie im Märkischen Sauerland, 4 vols. Hagen, 1909-13. quoted in Pounds 1952 p.41
(19)      Pounds 1952 p.47
(20)      For further explanation of the rise of the Ruhr area as commercial centers, see Jackson 1997 p.3; Sawyer 1949 p.3; Pounds 1952 p.24
(21)      Pounds 1952 p.41
(22)      Sawyer 1949 p.3, Parker & Pounds 1957 p.98
(23)      Jackson 1997 p.5, Sawyer 1949 p.3
(24)      These methods were regarded inefficient. Parker & Pounds 1957 pp.98-99
(25)      J. R. Seeley, Life and Times of Stein, Cambridge, 1878, I, 50-77; M. Lehmann, Freiherr von Stein, Leipzig, 1902, I, 39-80. Rheinisch-Westfälische Wirtschaftsbiogaphien, iii, Münster, 1936, ch. I, Heynitz, Rede, Stein. quoted in Pounds 1952 p.49
(26)      See further explanation of blast furnaces in Pounds 1952 p.54
(27)      Wüstenfeld 1975 p.38
(28)      For the discussion of the definition of the Ruhr area, refer to the introductory parts of this paper.
(29)      Article : Elberfeld, from Classic Encyclopedia
(30)      Pounds 1952 p.40
(31)      Jackson 1997 p.3
(32)      Pounds 1952 pp.41, 56, 84; Article :Barmen. from Classic Encyclopedia
(33)      Pounds 1952 p.40
(34)      ibid. p.88-89
(35)      See further explanation of industrial importance of Barmen and Elberfeld in Articles Barmen. and Elberfeld. from Classic Encyclopedia
(36)      Pounds 1952 p.44
(37)      Parker & Pounds 1957 p.114
(38)      "History: 1842 - the Beginnings" Bochumer Verein Verkehrstechnik GmbH.
(39)      Pounds 1952 pp.76, 243
(40)      "Bochum Facts" Official Homepage of the city of Bochum
(41)      Pounds 1952 p.116; "History: Development and Expansion" Bochumer Verein Verkehrstechnik GmbH.
(42)      For the detailed discuss of Thomas process, see Pounds 1952 pp.106-107
(43)      Article Bochum, from Classic Encyclopedia
(44)      "Stadtgeschichte."("City History") Official Website of Dinslaken.
(45)      Jackson 1997 p.46
(46)      "Stadtgeschichte."("City History") Official Website of Dinslaken.
(47)      ibid.
(48)      Pounds 1952 p.181
(49)      Article Dortmund, from Classic Encyclopedia
(50)      Jackson 1997 p.3
(51)      Article Dortmund, from Classic Encyclopedia
(52)      Pounds 1952 pp.70, 88-89
(53)      Jackson 1997 p.9
(54)      For the detailed discussion of Thomas and Bessemer processes, see Pounds 1952 pp.106-107
(55)      Pounds 1952 p.121
(56)      ibid., Bum 1961 p.iii
(57)      Article Dortmund, from Classic Encyclopedia
(58)      Pounds 1952 p.45
(59)      Jackson 1997 p.49
(60)      Pounds 1952 pp.72, 88, Jackson 1997 p.128
(61)      Pounds 1952 pp.112, 114-115, Jackson 1997 p.129
(62)      Pounds 1952 pp.118, 205, 214-215, Article Duisburg, from Classic Encyclopedia
(63)      Pounds 1952 p.45
(64)      ibid. pp.84, 88-89
(65)      Article Dusseldorf [!], from Classic Encyclopedia
(66)      Pounds 1952 p.43
(67)      "City of Essen History" Official Website of Essen.
(68)      Pounds 1952 pp.65-66
(69)      "City of Essen History" Official Website of Essen.; Pounds 1952 p.75
(70)      Pounds 1952 pp.114, 126
(71)      Article Essen, from Classic Encyclopedia
(72)      "History of Gelsenkirchen" Official Gelsenkirchen Website.
(73)      Pounds 1952 pp.66, 116, 129
(74)      Bum 1961 p.341, Article Gelsenkirchen, from Classic Encyclopedia
(75)      Pounds 1952 pp.50, 70, 76-77
(76)      ibid.. p.83
(77)      ibid. pp.17, 216
(78)      Article Hagen, from Classic Encyclopedia
(79)      ¡°History of Hamm¡± Herb Severing¡¯s Site.
(80)      Pounds 1952 pp.119, 142
(81)      ibid. p.188
(82)      Article Hamm, from Classic Encyclopedia
(83)      "Stadtgeschichte" ("History of the City") Record Office of the City Hattingen.
(84)      ibid. pp.41, 54
(85)      "Stadtgeschichte" ("History of the City") Record Office of the City Hattingen.
(86)      Pounds 1952 p.87
(87)      ibid.. pp.118, 129
(88)      ibid. p.76
(89)      Bum 1961 p.106
(90)      Pounds 1952 pp.77, 89
(91)      Article Horde [!], from Classic Encyclopedia
(92)      Pounds 1952 pp.47, 56, Jackson 1997 p.111
(93)      Pounds 1952 p.85; "Stadtgeschichte." Stadt Krefeld.
(94)      Article "Uerdingen." in Wikipedia in German Edition.
(95)      Pounds 1952 pp.181, 219
(96)      "The New Mülheim." Stadt M?lheim an der Ruhr.
(97)      Pounds 1952 p.71
(98)      ibid. p.72; "The New Mülheim." Stadt M?lheim an der Ruhr.
(99)      "The New Mülheim." Stadt M?lheim an der Ruhr.
(100)      Pounds 1952 p.128, Article Mulheim an der Ruhr [!], from Classic Encyclopedia
(101)      Jackson 1997 p.111
(102)      Brooks & Lacroix 1925 p.302, Pounds 1952 pp.87, 129
(103)      Article Oberhausen, from Classic Encyclopedia
(104)      Article Recklinghausen, from Classic Encyclopedia
(105)      Jackson 1997 p.5, Pounds 1952 p.43
(106)      Pounds 1952 pp.60, 97, 134, 136
(107)      Article Recklinghausen, from Classic Encyclopedia; "Grundriss der Geschichte Recklinghausens." Stadt Recklinghausen Grundriss der Geschichte.
(108)      Jackson 1997 p.111
(109)      Pounds 1952 pp.84-85, 119, 129
(110)      Article Remscheid, from Classic Encyclopedia
(111)      Article Solingen, from Classic Encyclopedia
(112)      Jackson 1997 p.111, Pounds 1952 pp.38, 40
(113)      Pounds 1952 p.119
(114)      Article Solingen, from Classic Encyclopedia; Parker & Pounds 1957 pp.21, 48
(115)      Coal commerce continued to flourish even to the eighteenth century. Jackson 1997 p.5
(116)      Pounds 1952 p.46
(117)      Pounds 1952 pp.71-72
(118)      Pounds 1952 pp.87, 107, 112, 128
(119)      Pounds 1952 p.207
(120)      Article Ruhrort, in : Classic Encyclopedia
(121)      "Historisches." Stadtgeschichte, Sprockhövel.
(122)      Pounds 1952 p.65; "Historisches." Stadtgeschichte, Sprockhövel.
(123)      Pounds 1952 pp.42-44; Article Wesel, from Classic Encyclopedia
(124)      Article Wesel, from Classic Encyclopedia
(125)      "Detailed description of the history of Wesel.' www.wesel.de - .
(126)      Pounds 1952 p.50; "Wetter (Ruhr) - eine spannende Geschichte." Stadt Wetter
(127)      Pounds 1952 p.73; Parker & Pounds 1957 p.221
(128)      Pounds 1952 pp.76, 118, 129; "Wetter (Ruhr) - eine spannende Geschichte." Stadt Wetter
(129)      Pounds 1952 pp.52, 65, 68, 89, 76
(130)      ibid. p.89; Ziese 1999 p.71
(131)      "History." J. D. Neuhaus - Portrait.; Ziese 1999 p.71
(132)      "Gussstahl-Werk Witten." Wikipedia in German Edition.
(133)      Pounds 1952 p.129; Article Witten, from Classic Encyclopedia

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