Introduction
This atlas combines some forty maps on the statistical dimension of communications
and transport in Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries. Not the infrastructures
themselves are the object of our inquiry, but rather the economic potential
they represented once they had been built, as well as the economic performance
they then achieved in the different countries of Europe since 1820. At the core
of the mapping, therefore, lies a statistical comparison by country. Aside of the
maps, all data underlying their construction have been given in tabular format as
PDF-documents. In addition, short texts have been includeded to introduce the series (by info-button)
as well as the maps (by PDF-document) and to add some background to both.
This project grew out of a cooperation between Eindhoven University of Technology,
the Netherlands, and the Institute of European History Mainz, Germany. Mainz
was responsible for the cartography, based on its mapserver IEG-Maps (www.iegmaps.de) as well as
on ongoing GIS mapping efforts conducted there in conjunction with the preparation
of an "Atlas on European History since 1500" (www.atlas-europa.de). Mainz was also responsible for compiling
the data on the waterways and on maritime traffic.
Eindhoven provided the data for the remaining series, which in large proportions were mined from a data pool
on transnational infrastructures of Europe developed as part of the project "Transnational
infrastructures and the rise of contemporary Europe", funded by the Netherlands Organization
for Scientific Research (NWO) from 2003 to 2009.
The bilateral cooperation was broadened
further by the placement of this project within the context of an International Research Group
on “Inventing Europe: Technology and the Making of Europe 1850 to the present”,
sponsored by the European Science Foundation (ESF) and the Netherlands Organization
for Scientific Research (NWO) from 2007 to 2010. The two projects in collaboration were "Transport Networks in Germany and Central
Europe, 1825-2005, directed by Andreas Kunz, and "Crossing Borders: waterway, rail and road connections between the
Netherlands, Belgium and the UK, directed by Hans Buiter. These projects were part of a CRP on "The Development of European
Waterways, Road and Rail Infrastructures: A geographical information system for the history of European integration
1825-2005 (Water, Road and Rail)".
We would like to take the opportunity to give credit and thanks to all people
involved in this project, particularly Robert Moeschl (Berlin) for the digital
cartography, Carolin Heymann (Mainz) for the GIS mapping of the motorways series, Frank Schipper (Eindhoven)
for the help with the corrections of the telegraphy statistics, Johan Schot (Eindhoven)
for starting the TIE-Database and providing access to it, and to Monika Krompiec (Mainz)
for recompiling the statistics for mapping purposes. Frank Linhard (Frankfurt) designed
the website, for which we are grateful.
We hope that www.atlas-infra.eu will find many visitors in the weeks and
months to come!
Mainz/Eindhoven, June 2010
Andreas Kunz / Hans Buiter
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