Map
S.1.3 Population Density in Saxony,
1910
Notes: This map is based on the census of 1 December
1910, according to which Saxony’s population was about 4.8 million, its
territory was about 15,000 square kilometers, and its population density was
thus about 320 inhabitants per square kilometer. As the text at the bottom
states, this map illustrates, in an approximate way, the geographic
distribution of Saxony’s industrial regions.
From the text: Population density in most of Saxony lies
below this average of 320 inhabitants/km2. Large areas in dark green
show districts with fewer than 100 inhabitants/km2. Between them lie
more densely-populated districts: areas of over 200,
400, 600, and 800 inhabitants are marked in blue, violet, pink, and red,
respectively.
Many islands of high population density can be seen in and around the
urban districts; but not all parts of “rural” Saxony are thinly-populated—for
example, the Elbe valley between Pirna and Meißen, the coal-mining areas of the Plauensche
Grunde and the district around Zwickau and Ölsnitz [in the southwest], in the weaving districts near
Chemnitz and Neu-Gersdorf in Lusatia, and in
Leipzig’s hinterland. In these districts one finds a population density of up
to 1,000 inhabitants/km2 and more.
To a certain degree, population density in Saxony rises with elevation
above sea-level; the lowlands [in the north] are mainly areas of agriculture
and forestry and are less-densely populated, whereas the foothills and valleys
of the Erzgebirge [lying on the southern border with Bohemia], which are rich
with manufacturing enterprises, are more densely populated.
Source: Bruno Krause, ed., Sächsischer Vaterlands-Atlas,
2nd rev. ed. (Dresden, n.d. [c. 1912]).
Copyright © 2017 James Retallack. All rights reserved. This page is part of the Online Supplement to James Retallack, Red Saxony: Election Battles and the Spectre of Democracy in Germany, 1860-1918 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). ISBN 978-0-19-966878-6. Last updated: 3 March 2022.