History of the Alps, 1500-1900 : environment, development, and society / Jon Mathieu ; translated from the German by Matthew Vester.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mathieu, Jon.

Contributor:

Vester, Matthew A. (Matthew Allen)

Standardized Title:

Geschichte der Alpen, 1500-1900. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic development--Alps--History.

Economic development.

Alps--History.

Alps.

Alps--Economic conditions.

Alps--Environmental conditions.

Alps--Population.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iii, 260 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (some color), maps

Edition:

First English edition.

Place of Publication:

Morgantown, W. Va. : West Virginia University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"In the 1700s, Jean-Jacques Rousseau celebrated the Alps as the quintessence of the triumph of nature over the "horrors" of civilization. Now available in English, History of the Alps, 1500-1900: Environment, Development, and Society provides a precise history of one of the greatest mountain range systems in the world. Jon Mathieu's work disproves a number of commonly held notions about the Alps, positioning them as neither an inversion of lowland society nor a world apart with respect to Europe. Mathieu's broad historical portrait addresses both the economic and sociopolitical - exploring the relationship between population levels, development, and the Alpine environment, as well as the complex links between agrarian structure, society, and the development of modern civilization. More detailed analysis examines the relationship between various agrarian structures and shifting political configurations, several aspects of family history between the late Middle Ages and the turn of the twentieth century, and exploration of the Savoy, Grisons, and Carinthia regions."--Cover description.

Contents:

""Front Cover""; ""Contents""; ""Preface""; ""The Alps: A Historical Space?""; ""Key questions and the state of the research""; ""The political construction of territory""; ""Endnotes""; ""Population""; ""Data and collection methods""; ""Comparing long-term trends""; ""Endnotes""; ""Agriculture and Alpiculture""; ""The intensity differential in the Alps""; ""Cropping frequency and yields""; ""The intensification of animal husbandry . . .""; "". . . and of plant cultivation""; ""Technology""; ""Endnotes""; ""Cities""; ""Statistics in the early modern era""; ""Acceleration of growth""

""The slowing of urban growth"" ""The nineteenth century""; ""Endnotes""; ""Environment and Development""; ""An intermediate assessment: differentiated growth""; ""Relations between the Alps and surrounding areas""; ""History and ecological models""; ""Endnotes""; ""Image Gallery""; ""The location of the Alps""; """"An Italian mountain""""; ""Map of Italy""; ""Maize plant""; ""Homage rendered to Emperor Leopold I in Klagenfurt""; ""Grenoble and its surroundings""; ""The Savoyard cadastre""; ""Law concerning feudal rights""; ""Hay harvesting below the castle of Hochosterwitz""

""Politics as a factor of differentiation""""Rural societies""; ""Endnotes""; ""History of the Alps from 1500 to 1900""; ""A summary""; ""Arguments and outlook""; ""Appendices""; ""Bibliography""; ""Official statistical sources""; ""A-Statistics Austria""; ""CH-Statistics Switzerland""; ""F-Statistics France""; ""FL-Statistics Principality of Liechtenstein""; ""I-Statistics Italy""; ""Selected literature""; ""Index""; ""Maps""; ""Map 1.1: Physical relief of the Alps""; ""Map 1.2: Political divisions in the Alps, before 1790 and in 1900""

""Map 2.1: Regions whose surface area is 75-100% Alpine""""Map 3.1: Forms of agriculture in the Alps, ca. 1900, according to de Martonne""; ""Map 4.1: Cities with 5000 or more inhabitants, in the Alps and surrounding areas, 1500""; ""Map 4.2: Cities with 5000 or more inhabitants, in the Alps and surrounding areas, 1800""; ""Map 4.3: The area surrounding Innsbruck, 1928""; ""Map 6.1: Medium and large farms in Alpine regions and districts, 1900""; ""Map 6.2: Agricultural servants in Alpine regions and districts, 1900""; ""Map 6.3: Illegitimacy rates in Alpine regions and districts, 1900""

""Map 7.1: The duchy of Savoy in the late eighteenth century""

Notes:

Originally published as Geschichte der Alpen, 1500-1900. German ed., 1998.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781935978138

1935978136

OCLC:

797855779

Publisher Number:

heb40110 hdl