2026-04-16T23:08:57Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/requestoai:recercat.cat:2072/3550712024-12-13T09:35:31Zcom_2072_96861com_2072_96858com_2072_96852com_2072_2015col_2072_228892
RECERCAT
author
Kerstin, Enflo
author
Alvarez Palau, Eduard Josep
author
Martí Henneberg, Jordi
Kerstin, E., Alvarez-Palau, E. & Martí-Henneberg, J. (2018). Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960. Journal of Historical Geography, 62(), 51-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.0010305-748810.1016/j.jhg.2018.05.001
http://hdl.handle.net/10609/93180
Before industrialisation the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) were part of Europe's poor periphery, but over the last century these countries have become some of the richest in the world. This article analyses the origins of Nordic growth from the late nineteenth century, focusing on a previously neglected topic: the role of transportation. We argue that transportation, and most notably large investments in railways, played a key role in Nordic industrialisation. Railways made the exploitation and exportation of natural resources possible in what had previously been isolated areas and helped fuel a process of rural-based industrialisation. By creating conditions that favoured migration towards previously scarcely populated, but economically booming areas, Nordic industrialisation was paralleled by a reduction in regional inequality as measured in per capita GDP. We assert that railways were built before local population growth and helped shape the economic landscape of the entire region. We illustrate these points using maps based on Historical Geographic Information Systems (HGIS) highlighting railways, regional GDP and population densities from the mid nineteenth century until 1960.
eng
(c) Author/s & (c) Journal info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
regional inequality
railways
historical GIS
population growth
economic growth
nordic countries
desigualtat regional
ferrocarrils
SIG històric
creixement de la població
desenvolupament econòmic
països nòrdics
desigualdad regional
vías férreas
SIG histórico
crecimiento de la población
crecimiento económico
países nórdicos
Economic development
Desenvolupament econòmic
Desarrollo económico
Transportation and regional inequality: the impact of railways in the Nordic countries, 1860-1960
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/submittedVersion