Economic Development and Environmental Transformations in Europe's Extractive Peripheries (16th - 21st centuries)

Resource extraction is fundamental to the structure of the economy. It involves any activity that extracts raw materials from nature, which are then directly used or processed to add value. Ranging in scale from the traditional use of pre-industrial societies to modern resource exploitation involving large infrastructures and complex technologies, extractive activities are the basis of the primary sector of the economy. Examples of extraction are hunting, fisheries, farming, forestry, mining, oil and gas drilling. Starting from the observation that the geography of resources has always played a crucial role in shaping the conditions of European economic development, the workshop aims at exploring the role of extraction by focusing on territories involved in such activities within the continent itself