Development of the iron industry in the Spiš-Gemer mining area in the years 1867–1914

The presented study deals with the issue of the development of the iron industry in the Spiš-Gemer mining area from the Austro-Hungarian settlement to the outbreak of the First World War. The work follows the onset of industrialization in the Upper Hungarian iron industry, the development of metallurgical technology, iron ore mining, transport, the creation of export networks between Hungary and other Central European regions. In the second half of the 19th century, the nature of Upper Hungarian metallurgy changed from proto-industrial to a modern capitalist way of doing business. Since the 1870s, after the creation of the first railways in the monitored area, private foreign capital penetrates the metallurgy of Spiš and Gemer, and the rate of export of iron ores to Austrian and Prussian ironworks increases. The Spiš-Gemer mining area is undergoing a transformation, which includes it becoming the most important producer of ore and pig iron in Hungary.