Its highest peak is theFeldberg with anelevation of 1,493 metres (4,898 ft) abovesea level. Roughly oblong in shape, with a length of 160 kilometres (100 miles) and breadth of up to 50 km (30 mi),[2] it has an area of about 6,009 km2 (2,320 sq mi).[1]
Historically, the area was known for forestry and the mining ofore deposits, but tourism has now become the primary industry, accounting for around 300,000 jobs.[3] There areseveral ruined military fortifications dating back to the 17th century.[4]
The Black Forest on theTabula Peutingeriana: a mountain chain with fantastically formed trees as a symbol of an unsettled and virtually inaccessible terrainBlack Forest farmhouse, 1898An unmarried Black Forest woman wearing a redBollenhut, 1898
In ancient times, the Black Forest was known asAbnoba mons, after the Celtic deityAbnoba. In Roman times (Late antiquity), it was given the nameSilva Marciana ("Marcynian Forest", from the Germanic wordmarka, "border").[5] The Black Forest probably represented the border area of theMarcomanni ("border people") who were settled east of the Romanlimes. They, in turn, were part of the Germanic tribe ofSuebi, who subsequently gave their name to the historic state ofSwabia. With the exception of Roman settlements on the perimeter (e.g. the baths in Badenweiler, and mines nearBadenweiler andSulzburg) and the construction of the Roman road ofKinzigtalstraße, the colonization of the Black Forest was not carried out by the Romans but by theAlemanni. They settled and first colonized the valleys, crossing the old settlement boundary, the so-called "red sandstone border", for example, from the region ofBaar. Soon afterwards, increasingly higher areas and adjacent forests were colonized, so that by the end of the 10th century, the first settlements could be found in the red (bunter) sandstone region. These include, for example,Rötenbach, which was first mentioned in 819.
Some of the uprisings (including theBundschuh movement) that preceded the 16th centuryGerman Peasants' War, originated in the Black Forest. Further peasant unrest, in the shape of thesaltpetre uprisings, took place over the next two centuries inHotzenwald.
Originally,the Black Forest was a mixed forest of deciduous trees and firs. At the higher elevationsspruce also grew. In the middle of the 19th century, the Black Forest was almost completely deforested by intensive forestry and was subsequently replanted, mostly with sprucemonocultures.
In 1990, extensive damage to the forest was caused by aseries of windstorms.[a] On 26 December 1999,Cyclone Lothar raged across the Black Forest and caused even greater damage, especially to the spruce monocultures. As had happened following the 1990 storms, large quantities of fallen logs were kept in provisional wet-storage areas for years. The effects of the storm are demonstrated by theLothar Path, a forest educational and adventure trail at the nature centre inRuhestein on a highland timber forest of about 10 hectares that was destroyed by a hurricane. Several areas of storm damage, both large and small, were left to nature and have developed today into a natural mixed forest again.
Woods and pastures of the High Black Forest nearBreitnau
The Black Forest stretches from theHigh Rhine in the south to theKraichgau in the north. In the west it is bounded by theUpper Rhine Plain (which, from a natural region perspective, also includes the low chain of foothills); in the east it transitions to theGäu,Baar and hill country west of theKlettgau. From north to south, the Black Forest extends for over 160 km (100 mi), attaining a width of up to 50 km (30 mi) in the south and 30 km (20 mi) in the north.[8] The Black Forest is the highest part of theSouth German Scarplands, and much of it is densely wooded, a fragment of theHercynian Forest of antiquity.
Thenatural regions of the Black Forest are separated by various features.
Geomorphologically, the main division is between the gentle eastern slopes with their mostly rounded hills and broad plateaux (so-calledDanubianrelief, especially prominent in the north and east on the Bunter Sandstone) and the deeply incised, steeply falling terrain in the west that drops into theUpper Rhine Graben; the so-called Valley Black Forest (Talschwarzwald) with itsRhenanian relief. It is here, in the west, where the highest mountains and the greatest local differences in height (of up to 1000 metres) are found. The valleys are often narrow and ravine-like. The summits are rounded, and there are remnants of plateaux andarête-like landforms.
Geologically the clearest division is also between east and west. Large areas of the eastern Black Forest, the lowest layer of theSouth German Scarplands composed of Bunter Sandstone, are covered by seemingly endless coniferous forest with their island clearings. The exposed basement in the west, predominantly made up ofmetamorphic rocks andgranites, was, despite its rugged topography, easier to settle and appears much more open and inviting today with its varied meadow valleys.
TheFeldberg, the highest mountain in the Black Forest, south-east ofFreiburg
The most common way of dividing the regions of the Black Forest is, however, from north to south. Until the 1930s, the Black Forest was divided into the Northern and Southern Black Forest, the boundary being theline of the Kinzig valley. Later the Black Forest was divided into the heavily forestedNorthern Black Forest, the lower, central section, predominantly used for agriculture in the valleys, was theCentral Black Forest and the much higherSouthern Black Forest with its distinctive highland economy andice age glacial relief. The termHigh Black Forest referred to the highest areas of the South and southern Central Black Forest.
The boundaries drawn were, however, quite varied. In 1931, Robert Gradmann called the Central Black Forest the catchment area of the Kinzig and in the west the section up to the lowerElz and Kinzig tributary of theGutach.[9] A pragmatic division, which is oriented not just on natural and cultural regions, uses the most important transverse valleys. Based on that, the Central Black Forest is bounded by the Kinzig in the north and the line fromDreisam toGutach in the south, corresponding to theBonndorf Graben zone and the course of the present dayB 31.
In 1959, Rudolf Metz combined the earlier divisions and proposed a modified tripartite division, which combined natural and cultural regional approaches and was widely used.[10][11] His Central Black Forest is bounded in the north by thewatershed between theAcher andRench and subsequently between theMurg andKinzig or Forbach and Kinzig, in the south by the Bonndorf Graben zone, which restricts the Black Forest in the east as does the Freudenstadt Graben further north by its transition into the Northern Black Forest.[12]
TheHandbook of the Natural Region Divisions of Germany published by the Federal Office of Regional Geography (Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde) since the early 1950s names the Black Forest as one of six tertiary-level major landscape regions within the secondary-level region of the South German Scarplands and, at the same time, one of nine new major landscape unit groups. It is divided into six so-called major units (level 4 landscapes).[13] This division was refined and modified in several successor publications (1:200,000 individual map sheets) up to 1967, each covering individual sections of the map. The mountain range was also divided into three regions. The northern boundary of the Central Black Forest in this classification runs south of the Rench Valley and theKniebis to near Freudenstadt. Its southern boundary varied with each edition.[13]
In 1998, the Baden-Württemberg State Department for Environmental Protection (today the Baden-Württemberg State Department for the Environment, Survey and Nature Conservation) published a reworked Natural Region Division of Baden-Württemberg.[14] It is restricted to the level of the natural regional major units and has been used since for the state's administration of nature conservation:[15]
Slopes of the Northern Black Forest to the Upper Rhine Plain (Northern Black Forest Valleys)
The Black Forest Foothills (Schwarzwald-Randplatten, 150) geomorphologically form plateaux on the north and northeast periphery of the mountain range that descend to theKraichgau in the north and theHeckengäu landscapes in the east. They are incised by valleys, especially those of theNagold river system, into individualinterfluves; a narrow northwestern finger extends to beyond theEnz nearNeuenbürg and also borders the middle reaches of theAlb to the west as far as a point immediately aboveEttlingen. To the southwest it is adjoined by the Black ForestGrinden and Enz Hills (Grindenschwarzwald und Enzhöhen, 151), along the upper reaches of the Enz and Murg, forming the heart of the Northern Black Forest. The west of the Northern Black Forest is formed by the Northern Black Forest Valleys (Nördliche Talschwarzwald, 152) with the middle reaches of the Murg aroundGernsbach, the middle course of theOos toBaden-Baden, the middle reaches of theBühlot aboveBühls and the upper reaches of theRench aroundOppenau. Their exit valleys from the mountain range are all oriented towards the northwest.
Grassland economy in side valleys of the Kinzig, Central Black Forest
The Central Black Forest (153) is mainly restricted to thecatchment area of the RiverKinzig aboveOffenburg as well as theSchutter and the low hills north of theElz.
The Southeastern Black Forest (Südöstliche Schwarzwald, 154) consists mainly of the catchment areas of the upper reaches of theDanube headstreams, theBrigach andBreg as well as the left side valleys of theWutach north ofNeustadt – and thus draining from the northeast of the Southern Black Forest. To the south and west it is adjoined by the High Black Forest (Hochschwarzwald, 155) with the highest summits in the whole range around theFeldberg and theBelchen. Its eastern part, the Southern Black Forest Plateau, is oriented towards the Danube, but drained over the Wutach and theAlb into the Rhine. The southern crest of the Black Forest in the west is deeply incised by the Rhine into numerous ridges. Immediately right of theWiese aboveLörrach rises the relatively small Bunter Sandstone-Rotliegendes table of the Weintenau Uplands (Weitenauer Bergland) in the extreme southwest of the Black Forest; morphologically, geologically and climatically it is separate from the other parts of the Southern Black Forest and, in this classification, is also counted as part of the High Black Forest.
TheBelchen in the Southern Black Forest with its bare dome, seen fromMünstertal
At1,493 m above sea level (NHN) theFeldberg in the Southern Black Forest is the range's highest summit. Also in the same area are theHerzogenhorn (1,415 m) and theBelchen (1,414 m). In general the mountains of the Southern or High Black Forest are higher than those in the Northern Black Forest. The highest Black Forest peak north of the Freiburg–Höllental–Neustadt line is theKandel (1,241.4 m). Like the highest point of the Northern Black Forest, theHornisgrinde (1,163 m), or the Southern Black Forest lookout mountains, theSchauinsland (1,284.4 m) andBlauen (1,164.7 m[22]) it lies near the western rim of the range.
The geological foundation of the Black Forest is formed by the crystalline bedrock of theVariscan basement. This is covered in the east and northeast byBunter Sandstone slabs, the so-called platforms. On the western edge a descending,step-fault-like, foothill zone borders the Upper Rhine Graben consisting of rocks of theTriassic andJurassic periods.
The dominant rocks of the basement are gneiss (ortho- and paragneisses, in the south alsomigmatites and diatexites, for example on the Schauinsland and Kandel). These gneisses were penetrated by a number of granitic bodies during theCarboniferous period. Among the bigger ones are the Triberg Granite and theForbach Granite, the youngest is the Bärhalde Granite. In the south lies the zone of Badenweiler-Lenzkirch, in which Palaeozoic rocks have been preserved (volcanite and sedimentary rocks), which are interpreted as the intercalated remains of amicrocontinental collision. Still further in the southeast (around Todtmoos) is a range of exotic inclusions:gabbro fromEhrsberg,serpentinites andpyroxenites near Todtmoos,norite nearHorbach), which are possibly the remnants of anaccretionary wedge from a continental collision. Also noteworthy are the basins in theRotliegend, for example the Schramberg or the Baden-Baden Basin with thick quartz-porphyry andtuff plates (exposed, for example, on the rock massif ofBattert near Baden-Baden). Thickrotliegendes rock, covered by bunter, also occurs in the north of theDinkelberg block (several hundred metres thick in the Baselgeothermal borehole). Even further to the southeast, under the Jura, lies the North Swiss Permocarboniferous Basin.
Since the downfaulting of theUpper Rhine Graben during theEocene epoch, the two shoulders on either side have been uplifted: the Black Forest to the east and theVosges to the west. In the centre lies theKaiserstuhl volcano, which dates to theMiocene. In the times that followed, theMesozoicplatform on the uplands was largely eroded, apart from remains of Bunter Sandstone andRotliegend Group, but it has survived within the graben itself. During thePliocene a pronounced but uneven bulge especially affected the southern Black Forest, including the Feldberg. As a result, the upper surface of the basement in the northern part of the forest around the Hornisgrinde is considerably lower. In the central Black Forest, the tectonicsyncline of the Kinzig and Murg emerged.
Above the crystalline basement of the Northern Black Forest and the adjacent parts of the Central Black Forest, the bunter sandstone platforms rise in prominent steps. The most resistant surface strata on the stepped terrain of thegrinden uplands and the heights around the upper reaches of theEnz, which have been heavily eroded by the tributaries of the Murg, is the silicified main conglomerate (Middle Bunter). To the east and north are thenappes of the Upper Bunter (platten sandstones and red clays). South of the Kinzig the Bunter Sandstone zone narrows to a fringe in the east of the mountain range.
It is considered proven that the Black Forest was heavily glaciated during the peak periods of at least theRiss andWürm glaciations (up to about 10,000 years ago). This glacial geomorphology characterizes almost all of the High Black Forest as well as the main ridge of the Northern Black Forest. Apart from that, it is only discernible from a large number ofcirques mainly facing northeast. Especially in this direction snow accumulated on the shaded and leeward slopes of the summit plateau to form short cirque glaciers that made the sides of these funnel-shaped depressions. There are still tarns in some of these old cirques, partly a result of theanthropogenic elevation of the low-side lip of the cirque, such as theMummelsee,Wildsee,Schurmsee,Glaswaldsee,Buhlbachsee,Nonnenmattweiher, andFeldsee. The Titisee formed asglacial lake behind a glacialmoraine.
Traditional costume orTracht is still sometimes worn today, usually at festive occasions. The appearance of such costume varies from region to region, sometimes markedly. One of the best-known Black Forest costumes is that of the villages ofKirnbach,Reichenbach andGutach im Kinzigtal with the characteristicBollenhut headdress. Unmarried women wear the hats with red bobbles orBollen; married women wear black. Engaged women sometimes wear abridal crown (Schäppel) before and on the day of their wedding,[27][28] whose largest examples from the town ofSt. Georgen weigh up to 5 kilograms.
Traditionally, theBollenhut is worn by unmarried women as part of thetracht.
Its rural beauty as well as the sense of tradition of its inhabitants attracted many artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries, whose works made the Black Forest famous the world over. Notable wereHans Thoma fromBernau and his fellow student, Rudolf Epp, who was sponsored by the Grand Duke of Baden,Frederick I. Both artists painted motifs from the Black Forest throughout their lives. ArtistJ. Metzler fromDüsseldorf travelled through the Black Forest to paint his landscapes. The works of the Gutach artist colony aroundWilhelm Hasemann were widely admired, their landscape and genre motifs capturing the character of the Black Forest. Like local author Heinrich Hansjakob, they were part of a Baden folk costume movement.[29]
Art gallery
Arnold Lyongrün:Frühling im Schwarzwald (1912)
Kinderreigen (1872) by Black Forest artistHans Thoma
In the field of handicrafts,wood carving produces folk art like theLonginus crosses along with sculptors likeMatthias Faller. Wood carving is a traditional cottage industry in the region, and carved ornaments now are produced in substantial numbers as souvenirs for tourists.Cuckoo clocks are a popular example.
Glassblowing is another notable craft of the Black Forest region.[30] At the beginning of the 15th century, the art of glassmaking took hold in the Bavarian-Bohemian border mountains, especially since the necessary raw materials such asquartz andwood were abundant here. With the permission of the manor, glassblowers operated simple glass production facilities as "wandering huts" (Wanderhütten), the locations of which were relocated when the local resources were available. They needed huge amounts of firewood and wood forpotash. In the second half of the 18th century, the huts had to close due to a shortage of wood and sales difficulties. Only after 1800, when the demand for luxury glass increased enormously, when a few decades of regulated forestry had ensured the regrowth of the raw material wood and when the forest-destroying potash extraction had become unnecessary due to the new glass flux soda, some glass huts (Glashütten) revived.[31] Some glassblowing factories still testify to this today, for example inHöllental, nearTodtnau and inWolfach.[32]
Black Forest ham originated from this region, as did theBlack Forest gâteau, which is also known as "Black Forest Cherry Cake" or "Black Forest Cake" and is made with chocolate cake, cream, sour cherries andKirsch.[33] The Black Forest variety ofFlammekueche is a Baden specialty made with ham, cheese and cream.Pfannkuchen, acrêpe or crêpe-like (Eierkuchen orPalatschinken) pastry, is also common.
The Black Forest is known for its long tradition in gourmet cuisine. No fewer than 17Michelin starred restaurants are located in the region, among them two restaurants with three stars (Restaurants Bareiss andSchwarzwaldstube inBaiersbronn)[34] as well as the only restaurant in Germany that has been awarded a Michelin star every year since 1966. AtSchwarzwald Hotel Adler inHäusern, three generations of chefs from the same family have defended the award from the first year the Michelin Guide selected restaurants in Germany until today.[when?][35]
The German holiday ofFastnacht, orFasnet, as it is known in the Black Forest region, occurs in the time leading up toLent. OnFasnetmendig, or the Monday beforeAsh Wednesday, crowds of people line the streets, wearing wooden, mostly hand-carved masks.[36] One prominent style of mask is called the Black Forest Style, originating from the Black Forest Region.
The Black Forest is home to an unusualtarot card game calledCego that is part of the region's cultural heritage.[37] After the defeat ofFurther Austria in 1805, much of its territory was allocated to theGrand Duchy of Baden. During the ensuingNapoleonic Wars, soldiers from Baden deployed with Napoleon's troops to Spain where, among other things, they learned a new card game,Ombre. They took this back to Baden and adapted it to be played withTarot cards which were then in common use in southern Germany.[38]
Cego soon developed into the national game of Baden andHohenzollern, and these are the only regions of Germany where tarot cards are still used for playing games.[39] The game has grown organically, and there are many regional variations, but in recent years the establishment of a Cego Black Forest Championship has led to official tournament rules being defined.[38][37] In addition, regular courses and local tournaments are held and it is a permanent feature ofAlemannic Week, held annually in the Black Forest at the end of September.[40]
There are twonature parks and onenational park named after the Black Forest that cover the region: theSouthern Black Forest Nature Park, theCentral/North Black Forest and theBlack Forest National Park. The difference between a nature park and a national park is that a nature park's aims are to strive for environmentally sustainableland use, to preserve the countryside as a cultural landscape, to market local produce more effectively, to make the area more suitable forsustainable tourism and to practiceenvironmental education.[41] A national park's aims are to protect the country's natural heritage, to practice environmental education, to serve purposes of scientific environmental observation and to prevent the area from being commercially exploited.[42]
TheSouthern Black Forest Nature Park (Naturpark Südschwarzwald) was founded in 1999. It comprises 394,000ha and is therefore Germany's largest nature park (as of 2020). It encloses the southern part of the Central Black Forest, the Southern Black Forest and adjacent areas.[43]
TheCentral/North Black Forest Nature Park (Naturpark Schwarzwald Mitte/Nord) was founded in 2000. It covers 375,000 ha and is thus the second-largest in Germany (as of 2020). It begins in the southern part of the Central Black Forest, bordering on the Southern Black Forest Nature Park and covers the rest of the Black Forest to the north.[44]
In addition to the characteristic range of fauna found in Central European forests, the following less common animals may be observed in the Black Forest:[46]
The mountain range has lower temperatures and higher rainfall than its surrounding countryside. The highlands of the Black Forest are characterized by regular rainfall throughout the year. However, temperatures do not fall evenly with increasing elevation, nor does the rainfall increase uniformly. Rather, the precipitation rises quickly even in the lower regions and is disproportionately heavy on the rainier western side of the mountains.
Winter on theSchauinsland. In the background are the Vosges.
The wettest areas are the highlands around the Hornisgrinde in the north and around the Belchen and Feldberg in the south, where annual rainfall reaches 1,800–2,100 mm.[51] Moisture-laden Atlantic westerlies dump about as much rain in the Northern Black Forest, despite its lower elevation, than in the higher area of the Southern Black Forest.[52] There, the Vosges act as a rain shield in the face of the prevailing winds. On the exposed east side of the Central Black Forest, it is much drier; the annual rainfall there is about 750 L/m2.
The higher elevations of the Black Forest are characterized by relatively small annual fluctuations and steamed extreme values. This is the result of the frequent light winds and greater cloud cover in summer. During the winter months, frequent high pressure means that the summits are often bathed in sunshine, while the valleys disappear under a thick blanket of fog as a result of pockets of cold air (temperature inversion).
Hinterzarten in the Southern Black Forest: church and Adler ski jump
The main industry of the Black Forest is tourism. Black Forest Tourism (Schwarzwald Tourismus) assesses that there are around 140,000 direct full-time jobs in the tourist sector and around 34.8 million tourist overnight stays in 2009.[53] In spring, summer and autumn an extensive network of hiking trails and mountain bike routes enable different groups of people to use the natural region. In winter, it is the various types of winter sport that come to the fore. There are facilities for bothdownhill andNordic skiing in many places.
There are well known winter sports areas around the Feldberg, nearTodtnau with itsFIS downhill ski run ofFahler Loch and inHinterzarten, a centre and talent forge for German ski jumpers. In the Northern Black Forest, the winter-sports areas are concentrated along theBlack Forest High Road and on the ridge between the Murg and Enz rivers aroundKaltenbronn.
The Black Forest has a great number of very varied trails; some of pan-regional significance. TheEuropean long-distance pathE1 crosses the Black Forest following the routes of some of the local long-distance paths. Their framework is a network of long-distance paths with main routes and side branches, many of which were laid out in the early 20th century by theBlack Forest Club (Schwarzwaldverein). The best known of these is the challengingWest Way (Westweg) with its many steep inclines. After 1950, circular walks were constructed to meet the changing demand, initially from the relatively dense railway network and, later, mainly from locally established hiking car parks. Currently, special, more experience-oriented themed paths are being laid out, such as the Dornstetten Barefoot Park (Barfußpark Dornstetten), the Park of All Senses (Park mit allen Sinnen) inGutach (Black Forest Railway), as well as those designed to bring the walker more directly in contact with nature (e.g. theSchluchtensteig). Roads and wide forest tracks are thus less often used than hitherto.
There are numerous shorter paths suitable for day walks, as well asmountain biking andcross-country skiing trails. The total network of tracks amounts to around 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi), and is maintained and overseen by volunteers of theBlack Forest Club (figures from Bremke, 1999, p. 9), which is the second largest German hiking association. As of 2021, the club counts 65,000 members.[56]
TheBlack Forest Open Air Museum at the Vogtsbauernhof farm inGutach has originalBlack Forest houses offering insights into farming life of the 16th and 17th centuries. The buildings were dismantled at their original sites, the individual pieces numbered and then re-erected to exactly the same plan in the museum. The open-air museum shows the life of 16th and 17th century farmers in the region featuring theVogtsbauernhof which dates back to 1612.[57]
From this early precision engineering a formerly important phonographic industry developed in the 20th century; the history of leisure electronics is presented in theGerman Phono Museum inSt. Georgen.
TheBlack Forest Costume Museum inHaslach im Kinzigtal offers an overview of the traditional costume of the whole of the Black Forest and its peripheral regions. Also located in Haslach: the Hansjakob Museum and the Hansjakob Archive with numerous works of the writer, priest, politician, historian and chronicler,Heinrich Hansjakob.
Thanks to its winding country roads, the Black Forest is a popular destination formotorcyclists. This arm of tourism is controversial due to the high number of accidents and the wide-ranging noise pollution[59] and has been restricted through the introduction of speed limits and by placing certain roads out of bounds. For example, since 1984, motorcyclists have been banned from using themountain-racing route on theSchauinsland during summer weekends.[60]
Since January 2006, the Black Forest Tourist organisation,Schwarzwald Tourismus, whose head office is inFreiburg, has been responsible for the administration of tourism in the 320 municipalities of the region. Hitherto there had been four separate tourist associations.
For drivers, the main route through the region is the fastA 5 (E35) motorway, but a variety of signposted scenic routes such as theSchwarzwaldhochstraße (60 km (37 mi),Baden-Baden toFreudenstadt), Schwarzwald Tälerstraße (100 km (62 mi), theMurg andKinzig valleys) or Badische Weinstraße (Baden Wine Street, 160 km (99 mi), a wine route fromBaden-Baden toWeil am Rhein) offers calmer driving along high roads.[61] The last is a picturesque trip starting in the south of the Black Forest going north and includes numerous old wineries and tiny villages. Another, more specialized route is theGerman Clock Route,[62] a circular route that traces thehorological history of the region.
The Black Forest was visited on several occasions by CountOtto von Bismarck during his years as Prussian and later German chancellor (1862–1890). Allegedly, he was especially interested in theTriberg Waterfalls.[63] There is now a monument in Triberg dedicated to Bismarck, who apparently enjoyed the tranquility of the region as an escape from his day-to-day political duties in Berlin.
The Black Forest featured in the philosophical development ofMartin Heidegger. Heidegger wrote and edited some of his philosophical works in a small hut in the Black Forest,[64] and would receive visitors there for walks, including his former pupilHannah Arendt. This hut features explicitly in his essayBuilding, Dwelling, Thinking.[65] His walks in the Black Forest are supposed to have inspired the title of his collection of essaysHolzwege, translated asOff The Beaten Track.[66]
Hornisgrinde plateau and raised bog (2004). Behind: transmission mast and wind generators
Mining developed in the Black Forest due to its ore deposits, which were often lode-shaped. The formation of these deposits (Schauinsland Pit:zinc,lead, about 700–1000 gsilver/ton of lead;baryte,fluorite, less lead and zinc in the Kinzig valley;BiCoNi ores nearWittichen,uranium discovered in theKrunkelbach valley nearMenzenschwand but never officially mined) often used to be linked to the intrusion of Carboniferous granite in the para- and orthogneisses. More recent research has revealed that most of these lode fillings are much younger (Triassic toTertiary). Economic deposits of other minerals included: fluorite in the Northern Black Forest nearPforzheim, baryte in the central region nearFreudenstadt, fluorite along with lead and silver near Wildschapbach, baryte and fluorite in the Rankach valley and near Ohlsbach, in the Southern Black Forest nearTodtnau,Wieden and Urberg.
Small liquid magmatic deposits of nickel-magnetite gravel innorite were mined or prospected in the Hotzenwald forest near Horbach andTodtmoos. Strata-bound deposits include iron ores in the Dogger layer of the foothill zone and uranium near Müllenbach/Baden-Baden.Stone coal is only found nearBerghaupten andDiersburg, but was always only of local importance.
Chronology:Stone Age mining ofhaematite (as red pigment) nearSulzburg. By the 5th and 6th centuries B.C.iron ore was being mined by theCelts in the Northern Black Forest (for example inNeuenbürg). Especially in the Middle Black Forest, but also in the south (for example in theMünster valley) ore mining was already probably taking place in Roman times (mining of silver and lead ore; evidence of this at Sulzburg and possiblyBadenweiler). Until theHigh Middle Ages the High Black Forest was practically unsettled. In the course of inland colonisation in the Late High Middle Ages even the highlands were cultivated by settlers from the abbeys (St. Peter's,St. Märgen's). In the Late High Middle Ages (from about 1100) mining experienced another boom, especially around Todtnau, in the Münster and Suggen valleys and, later, on theSchauinsland too. It is believed that around 800–1,000 miners lived and worked in the Münster valley until the end of the Middle Ages. After the Plague, which afflicted the valley in 1516, theGerman Peasants' War (1524–26) and theThirty Years' War, mining in the region declined until just a few pits remained.
An important mining area was theKinzig valley and its side valleys. The small mining settlement ofWittichen nearSchenkenzell in the upper Kinzig valley had many pits from which miners dugbaryte,cobalt andsilver of many kinds. A circular, geological footpath runs today past the old pits andtips.
Another boom began in the early 18th century after the loss of theAlsace to France. It lasted until the 19th century. Many pits from this period may be visited today asshow mines; for example the Teufelsgrund Pit (Münstertal), theFinstergrund Pit near Wieden, the Hoffnungsstollen ("Hope Gallery") at Todtmoos, the mine in theSchauinsland, the formerly especially silver-richWenzel Pit inOberwolfach and Gr.Segen Gottes ("God's Great Blessing") inHaslach-Schnellingen.
Non-ferrous metal mining in the Black Forest continued until the middle of the 20th century nearWildschapbach and on the Schauinsland (to 1954); fluorite and baryte are still mined today at theClara Pit in the Rankach valley inOberwolfach. Iron ores of the Dogger formation was worked until the 1970s nearRingsheim and was smelted inKehl.
Compared with theHarz andOre Mountains the quantities of silver extracted in the Black Forest were rather modest and reached only about ten percent of that produced in the other silver-mining regions.
For several centuries logs from the Black Forest were rafted down theEnz,Kinzig,Murg,Nagold andRhine rivers for use in theshipping industry, as constructiontimber and for other purposes. This branch of industry boomed in the 18th century and led to large-scale clearances. As most of the long, straight pine logs were transported downriver for shipbuilding in theNetherlands, they were referred to as "Dutchmen". The logs were used in the Netherlands, above all, aspiles for house construction in the sandy and wet ground. Even today in Amsterdam large numbers of historic building are built on these posts and the reforestation of the Black Forest with sprucemonocultures testifies to the destruction of the originalmixed forest. With the expansion of the railway and road network as alternative transportation, rafting largely came to an end in the late 19th century.
Today, loggers harvest fir trees—especially very tall and branchless ones—mainly to ship to Japan. The global advertising impact ofExpo 2000 fuelled a resurgence of timber exports. The importance of the timber resources of the Black Forest has also increased sharply recently due to the increasing demand forwood pellets for heating.
The timber resources of the Black Forest provided the basis for other sectors of the economy that have now largely disappeared.Charcoal burners (Köhler) built their wood piles (Meiler) in the woods and produced charcoal, which, like the products of thepotash boilers—further processedinter alia for theglassmaking industry. The Black Forest supplied raw materials and energy for the manufacture offorest glass. This is evidenced today by a number ofglassblowing houses e.g. in the Hoellental in Todtnau andWolfach and the Forest Glass Centre inGersbach (Schopfheim), which is open to visitors.
Precision-engineering, clock and jewellery manufacture
Clockmaker's workshop in a sitting room (postcard from around 1900)
In the relatively inaccessible Black Forest valleys,industrialization arrived late. In winter, manyfarmers made woodencuckoo clocks to supplement their income. This developed in the 19th century into theprecision engineering and watch industry, which boomed with the arrival of the railway in many of the Black Forest valleys. The initial disadvantage of their remote location, which led to the development of precision-engineered wooden handicrafts, became a competitive advantage because of their access to raw materials: timber from the forest and metal from the mines. As part of a structural support programme the Baden State Government founded the first clockmaking school in 1850 inFurtwangen to ensure that small artisans were given good training and thus better sales opportunities. Due to the increasing demand for mechanical devices, large companies such asJunghans andKienzle became established. In the 20th century, the production of consumer electronics was developed by companies such asSABA,Dual andBecker. In the 1970s, the industry declined due to Far Eastern competition. Nevertheless, the Black Forest remains a centre for the metalworking industry and is home to many high-tech companies.
Since the start of industrialisation there have been numerous firms inPforzheim that manufacture jewellery and work with precious metals and stones. There is also agoldsmith's school in Pforzheim.
Due to the large amounts of precipitation and elevation changes the Black Forest has significanthydropower potential.[67] This was used until the 19th century especially for operating numerousmills, includingsawmills andhammer mills and was one of the local factors in the industrialization of some Black Forest valleys.
Since the 20th century, the Black Forest has seen the large-scale generation of electrical power usingrun-of-the-river power plants andpumped storage power stations. From 1914 to 1926, the Rudolf Fettweis Company was established in the Murg valley in the Northern Black Forest with the construction of theSchwarzenbach Dam. In 1932, theSchluchsee reservoir, with its new dam, became the upper basin of a pumped-storage power plant. In 2013 the association of the Southern Black Forest'sSchluchseewerk owned five power plants with 14 storage tanks. At theHornberg Basin topographical conditions allow an average head of water of 625 m to drive the turbines before it flows into theWehra Reservoir.
In the 21st century, in the wake of theRenewable Energy Sources Act, numerous smaller run-of-the-river power stations were re-opened or newly constructed.
^Allgemeiner Teil. Das Land Baden-Württemberg – Amtliche Beschreibung nach Kreisen und Gemeinden. Vol. 1. Stuttgart:Kohlhammer Verlag. 1974. p. 32.ISBN3-17-001835-3.
^Borcherdt, Christoph, ed. (1993).Geographische Landeskunde von Baden-Württemberg (3rd ed.). Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. p. 169.
^Metz, Rudolf (1959). "Zur naturräumlichen Gliederung des Schwarzwalds". InAlemannisches Institut (ed.).Alemannisches Jahrbuch 1959. Schauenburg, Lahr. pp. 1–33.
^Major natural region units, Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Environment, Survey and Conservation (Landesanstalt für Umwelt, Messungen und Naturschutz Baden-Württemberg) (pdf, 3.1 MB)
^e.V, VDN-Verband Deutscher Naturparke."Aufgaben & Ziele".www.naturparke.de (in German).Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved3 January 2021.
^Liehl, Ekkehard; Sick, Wolf Dieter, eds. (1984), "Der Schwarzwald. Beiträge zur Landeskunde",Veröffentlichung des Alemannischen Instituts Freiburg I. Br. (in German), vol. 47 (3 ed.), Bühl: Konkordia, p. 70,ISBN3-7826-0047-9
^Apropos Werbung, Telefon 07721-98770."German Clock Route Location". Deutsche Uhrenstrasse.Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved9 August 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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Barnes, K. J. (2007).A Rough Passage: Memories of an Empire
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