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Alpine economy
(1,169 words)

The Alps are the largest and highest European mountain range, stretching in an arc about 1,200 km long by 250 km wide from the western Mediterranean to eastern Austria and as far as Slovenia. Owing to their extent and their central position in Europe, they do not represent solely a geographical challenge to the movement of people and goods (Alpine passes): they are also paradigmatic for the academic perception and cultural and political interpretation of mountains (Alpinism), and accordingly rank as the best-researched mountain region on earth in respect of cultural …

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Pfister, Ulrich, “Alpine economy”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_016748>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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