VODE IN RUDE KOT ODLOČILNI DEJAVNIKI ZA NASTANEK IN GOSPODARSKI VZPON MEŠČANSKIH NASELIJ NA SLOVENSKEM V PREDINDUSTRIJSKI DOBI
WATERS AND ORES AS DECIDING FACTORS FOR UPSPRING AND ECONOMIC RISE OF THE URBAN SETTLEMENTS IN SLOVENIA IN THE PREINDUSTRIAL ERA

Summary/Abstract: The creation and economic rise of certain civil settlements in Slovenia in the pre-industrial era is inextricably related to the exploitation of water resources and mineral wealth. Two villages became marketplaces thanks to water resources: in the 16th century, Vrhnika mostly because of Ljubljanica river navigation and river traffic; at the turn of the 17th and 18th century Dolenjske Toplice acquired the position of a marketplace, soon to lose it. River transport on Sava in the 18th and early 19th century significantly changed the economic and social profile of the medieval market called Litija; after it ceased due to the railway, a reversal occurred again. However, the exploitation of mineral wealth had even greater impact on formation of urban settlements than river transport. At the end of the Middle Ages, there was a marketplace Bela Peč (now in Italy), the only mining settlement that managed to acquire all the attributes of a marketplace with a developed autonomy. The place Idrija is certainly the biggest phenomenon of them all, with its mercury mining. Getting its marketplace status in late 17th century, Idrija was referred to as a mining town from mid-18th century onwards, and later a city (the second biggest one in Carniola); although on an overall level it lacked institutions of a city administration.

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