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Poverty in Galicia was extreme, particularly in the late 19th century. Galicia in that period has been described as not only the poorest province of Austro-Hungary, but the poorest province of Europe. The reasons included little interest in reform from the major landholders and the Austrian government, population growth resulting in small peasant plots, lack of education, primitive agricultural techniques, and a vicious circle of chronic malnutrition; famine; and disease, reducing productivity. Poverty in the province was so widespread that the term "Galician misery" or "Galician poverty" (bieda galicyjska) has become proverbial.〔 ==Causes and contributing factors== (詳細はAustrian Empire (later, the Austro-Hungarian Empire), which acquired it through the partitions of Poland, and was its poorest province.〔 Whereas on average, 7.3% of the Empire were eligible to pay the minimum income, in Galicia, where the per capita income was one tenth of the Austrian average, only 0.8% were wealthy enough to qualify for taxation.〔〔 Due to malnutrition and illnesses, the province was said to have "the highest number of people not fit for military duty".〔 The new state borders had cut Galicia off from many of its traditional trade routes and markets of the Polish sphere, resulting in stagnation of economic life and decline of Galician towns. Lviv lost its status as a significant trade center. After a short period of limited investments, the Austrian government started a fiscal exploitation of Galicia and drained the region of manpower through conscription to imperial army. The Austrians decided that Galicia should not develop industrially but remain an agricultural area that would serve as a supplier of food products and raw materials to other Habsburg provinces. New taxes were instituted, investments were discouraged, and cities and towns were neglected.〔P. R. Magocsi. (1983). ''Galicia: A Historical Survey and Bibliographic Guide.'' Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies,Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. p. 99〕〔P. Wandycz. (1974). ''The lands of partitioned Poland, 1795–1918. A History of East Central Europe''. University of Washington Press. p. 12〕〔K. Stauter-Halsted. (2005). ''The Nation In The Village: The Genesis Of Peasant National Identity In Austrian Poland, 1848–1914''. Cornell University Press. p. 24〕 Education lagged behind, with only 15% or so of the peasants attending any kind of school, meaning that few peasants had the skills to pursue other careers.〔 Even if they did, no major Galician city (Kraków or Lwów) was a center of significant industry, which gave peasants little alternatives to their profession.〔 Neither the mostly Polish large landowners, nor the Austrian imperial government, showed much interest in reform, such as industrialization, which would upset the system in which Galicia was a provider of agricultural products for the rest of the Empire, and a market for inferior industrial goods, a situation profitable for both the governments and the landowners.〔〔〔 The Austrian government treated Galicia as a colony that could be treated to another country, and overtaxed it rather than invested in it.〔〔〔 In what little industry Galicia had, one of the largest local branches (about a third of the total) was alcohol brewing, further exploiting and impoverishing the peasantry.〔 Alcoholism was a major social problem.〔 Agricultural productivity of Galician peasants was one of the lowest in Europe, due to the use of primitive agricultural techniques, many little different from those used in the Middle Ages.〔〔〔 The situation was compounded by the lack of good land and growing population, resulting in the steadily diminishing size of an individual peasant's plot.〔 Over 70% of Galicia population lived off the land.〔 In the second half of the 19th century, with only a marginal increase of arable land (about 7%), the population of peasants doubled.〔 In 1899, 80% of the plots had less than , and many were not able to grow enough food on their plots to support their families.〔〔 Overpopulation in Galicia has been so severe that it has been described as the most overpopulated place in Europe, and compared to India and China.〔 Emancipation of serfs in 1848 did not improve their situation significantly, as they were given poorly paid jobs by the local major landowners (who owned 43% of the arable land in 1848), doing little to improve the peasants welfare from the previous feudal relations.〔〔〔 Due to other changes in the law, peasants also lost access to many forests and pastures, which the large landowners tried to secure for themselves.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Poverty in Austrian Galicia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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