Coal mining as a determinant of the development of economic and settlement structures in the Dąbrowa Basin (Southern Poland): a historical perspective

Abstract The coal industry, alongside manufacturing, was one of the key industries that determined the settlement-economic development of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB). This research focuses on the economic potential of the eastern part of the USCB, i.e. the Dąbrowa Basin (DB), and covers the period of industrialization up to 1918. At that time, there were over 160 coal mines, both deep and open-cast, operating in the region. The largest number of former hard coal mines were located in the present area of Sosnowiec (41,1%) and Dąbrowa Górnicza (28,6%). This research attempts to clarify the role of coal mining in the transformation of the DB’s economy and settlement network. In order to understand the mechanisms contributing to the accumulation of economic growth in certain places, the influence of a group of interdependent causal factors (spatial, economic and institutional) was analysed. Reference is made to the theory of poles of development and Myrdal’s process of cumulative causation. Several dozen archival cartographic materials (mainly topographic maps and mining field plans) were used to analyze settlement and functional changes in the DB area from an evolutionary perspective. This allowed for a discussion on the connection between coal mining and other factors driving changes in economic and settlement structures in DB. An attempt was also made to stage the transformation process of the studied towns and to determine their genetic and morphological changes. The transformation of the rank of localities stemming from the emergence of specialized central places is also described.