Regionale Industrialisierung revisited – Die niederrheinische Textilregion von der Protoindustrialisierung bis zum 20. Jahrhundert als Fallbeispiel

The concept of Regional Industrialization developed by Rainer Fremdling, Toni Pierenkemper and Richard Tilly is based on a small-scale research approach and composes regions according to criteria of homogeneity. This paper argues that the concept is fruitful in regard to textile regions and their analysis in a long-term perspective from proto-industrialization to the 20th century. It examines relevant factors such as capital, labour, raw materials, transfer of capital, technology and knowledge in order to analyse the specific regional path of growth. Especially the role of migrant pioneer entrepreneurs and the institutional-cultural setting, i.e. the state monopolies of the regional silk and velvet producers are addressed. Mechanisation and the factory system were introduced relatively late in comparison to other regions in the wool and cotton branch of textile industry. But innovations in weaving and energy technology diffused rather rapidly in Krefeld, Mönchengladbach and the rural surroundings. The paper shows how the growing textile industry of the left lower Rhine region diversified during the Great Depression of the 1870s-90s and induced forward and backward linkages to the machinery, tool and chemical industries. In all segments of the textile industry in the region (silk, velvet, cotton, wool, synthetics) path dependencies evolved which still have an effect on research institutions and industrial culture today.