In the Middle Ages, local power was vested primarily in the counts (Grafen) of Berg, Mark and Cleves.
The Hellweg was an important trade route crossing the region from Duisburg to Dortmund and beyond as far as the rivers Weser and Elbe.
Nowadays, its hitherto important coal and steel industries have drastically declined and the region is in a state of re-adjustment.
Where Essen lies today, this flow was temporarily hindered by a barrier of ice and rocky debris, forming an enormous lake which filled the valley at Schwerte.
[16] Coal production moved northwards as steam engine technology allowed the exploitation of deep coking coal seams (the earlier mines, generally nearer the River Ruhr, had tended to be drift mines exploiting the anthracite lying nearer the surface).
'Vertical' concerns came into being, with collieries, cokeries and ironworks under common ownership, and it was not uncommon to have all constituents located on the same site or close together.
The coal and steel industries continue to expand, with the Ruhr reaching a position whereby its coal and steel production is in each case almost equivalent to the rest of continental Europe put together (excluding the USSR)[17] The Ruhr industrialist Fritz Thyssen assists the NSDAP with a massive financial sum.
Sigillara specimen (bark removed), found in the
Nordstern mine
, Flöz Zollverein 2/3 at a depth of 1000m.
Ammonite in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin
Historic cobbles – in Dortmund, on the Old Market, two medieval trade routes meet at the tower of
St. Reinold's Church
Wildungen Altar
Gerhard Mercator
Pappenheim allowed plundering in the County of Mark and pressured Dortmund
An early picture of St. Antony's Smeltery in (present-day) Oberhausen
Freiherr vom Stein
Cross-section of the steam engine erected at the Königsborn Saltworks in 1799 (drawing from 1822)
Alfred Krupp
At the end of the 19th century,
Malakoff towers
were built over the shafts of the deep mines. This picture shows the tower of the
Julius-Philipp
mine in Bochum South.
Call for the Miners' Strike 1889
Development of Demand for Coal in the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Basin during the 19th. Century
Schiffshebewerk (Boat Lift) on the Dortmund-Ems Canal
Current view of the Rhine-Herne Canal, showing the parallel River Emscher on its left
Notgeld (emergency money) of Bochum from 1923
The last French troops leave Dortmund in October 1924
Winding towers, like these of the
Zeche Zollverein
in 1928, marked the landscape of the Ruhr
Ruhr Pocket/Ruhrkessel 1945
The industries of the Ruhr, essential for the re-construction of post-war Germany, remained under the control of the international Ruhr authority in 1949
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Sign of economic change: in 1983, in spite of seemingly successful protests by employeess, steel production at the Krupp works in Duisburg-Rheinhausen were shut down
Result of economic change: the shopping centre, CentrO, in Oberhausen stands on the grounds of a former iron works
