Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
2. Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918
Towns in Felvidék (Upper Hungary) before 1918 The geographical conditions that were favourable from the point of view of mining and industry, wooded mountains, were unfavourable for agriculture. Nevertheless, to be able to supply the mining and industrial population, agriculture developed to a high level in the northern counties of Felvidék. There was not only highly developed cattle-breeding but also a considerable number of sheep. The productivity of plant-growing was also higher than the national average. That was the reason why food imports were less than would have been expected considering the natural conditions. The agriculture in Árva and Trencsén Counties was not at anywhere near such a high level (Nagy 2004). Granting credit was also a typical feature of these five counties. It indicated the liberalism of Hungary of the time that the individual ethnic groups could establish their own banks, in order to be able to support their own people with low-interest loans. Such banks in Slovak ownership could also be found in the small towns in Felvidék. It was a sign of a high level of modernization in the towns of Felvidék that, on the basis of different indicators, Pozsony County was ranked to be in the stage of ‘advanced modernization’, each of the five counties of Felvidék with Slovak majority was classified as ‘a region under modernization’, while Nyitra, Bars, Hont and Nógrád Counties were categorized as ‘moderately modernized’. Compared to them, Árva and Trencsén, as well as Sáros and Zemplén were regions that had ‘hardly joined the modernization process’ (Beluszky-Győri 2005, pp. 71-88). Mention must be made of the fact that the nationwide strengthening of industry was also based on a significant transformation of the economic structure, which also had some regional consequences, seriously affecting also Felvidék. On the one hand, the importance of mining decreased and, instead of the former mining of rare ores, the mining of iron ore and coal increased. On the other hand, the processing industry (the textile industry, the food processing industry) started to produce consumption goods. As a result of the introduction of new technologies, heavy industry also appeared. However, these new processes were typical of other regions. Light industry and the food processing industry were present with their quality goods in the northern towns, but they mostly satisfied internal demands. Heavy industry, the important sector of the era, could be found first of all in the zone of the towns Salgótarján, Ózd and Diósgyőr (Vuics 1998). As a result of the same processes, and due to Vienna and Budapest gaining more prominence, Pozsony (Bratislava) started to lose its central role. Compared to Kassa (Košice), Miskolc 34
