Changes in Distribution of Industry in the Area of Poland in the Years 1860-1965

Abstract

Investigating the spatial evolution of industry in Polish territories over the hundred years 1860-1965 poses particular methodological difficulties because the present-day Polish territories before 1945 belonged to several political systems with different statistical traditions and different definitions of industry. Achieving comparability of data across the three main periods (1860-1918, 1919-1945, 1945-1965) required time-consuming recalculations.

This article analyzes the process of spatial and technical concentration of industry in the area of present-day Poland in the years 1860-1965, investigating the formation of industrial districts, changes in employment structure, the reduction of regional disproportions in industrialization, and the role of steam power and planned economy in shaping industrial location.

The study draws on data collected by the author on the number of employees in industry in particular industrial centers (concentrating more than 100 industrial workers) for eight chronological cross-sections: 1860/61, 1882, 1895/1902, 1907/10, 1925, 1938/39, 1946, and 1960, presented in two statistical tables and four maps illustrating the distribution of industrial districts.

The analysis distinguishes three main stages. In 1860-1918, industry was dispersed in small centers with nearly 50% of employment in food, mineral, and timber industries; by 1907/10 employment quadrupled from 288,000 to 1,189,000 and eleven industrial districts had formed. In 1919-1945, the interwar period produced the Central Industrial District while war destruction created severe disproportions. In 1945-1965, planned economy accelerated both spatial concentration and reduction of regional disproportions: employment grew from 1,235,000 to 3,129,000 and the share of centers over 1,000 workers rose from 77.2% to 87.7%. The Upper Silesian-Kraków Industrial District, covering only 5% of Poland's area, concentrated 33% of all industrial employment in 1960 and dominated production of coal, steel, zinc, and cement. Both spatial and technical concentration emerged as secular trends common to all three periods.