page_title: Eifel
section_title: Settlement history
hierarchical_section_title: Eifel / History / Settlement history
caption_attribution_description: English: Ivory artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic cave site Magdalenahöhle, Germany. Deutsch: Elfenbeinartefakte der jungpaläolithischen Fundstelle Magdalenahöhle, Deutschland.
context_page_description: The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of Belgium.
  The Eifel is part of the Rhenish Massif; within its northern portions lies the Eifel National Park.
context_section_description: By the Old Stone Age, the Eifel was inhabited by people: Neanderthals and modern man. This is evinced by the Buchenloch and Magdalena Caves near Gerolstein. The artifacts from the Magdalena Cave also show that the Eifel was visited by man even during the height of the last ice age.
  Excavations show that iron was already being worked by the Iron Age "Hunsrück-Eifel culture" to which the Eifel gives its name. The first smelting hut north of the Alps was built during the La Tène period in the 5th century BC in Hillesheim. Near Bitburg there is an iron smelting site in which metal was smelted and worked in an almost industrial manner during the Roman period. In Roman times, the Eifel was an important economic region. Its mineral resources (lead, zinc spar, iron, limestone and stones for construction) were mined, and trade benefited from long-distance Roman communication routes such as the Roman road from Trier to Cologne, which crossed the Eifel.
  In the late Middle Ages, the Eifel was a border area between the Archbishoprics of Electoral Cologne and Electoral Trier, the County of Luxembourg and the Duchy of Jülich. This explains the large number of castles, now lying in ruins, which had been built mainly for the purpose of guarding the border. Through skillful politics, several smaller principalities and abbey estates were able to acquire their independence, for example the House of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, the County of Salm-Reifferscheid and Prüm Abbey.
  The mining and smelting works, with their demand for pit props and charcoal for smelting, the great demand for construction timber and firewood and the shipbuilding industry which was widespread until the 19th century, led to an almost complete deforestation of the woods. In fact, around 1800, the Eifel must be imagined as a landscape of meadows and heathland, where animals, especially flocks of sheep, grazed. At the same time, the population was becoming increasingly impoverished because the poor arable land did not yield rich harvests. Even after the decline of mining and smelting operations after the mid-19th century, the situation of the population did not improve. In addition, the Eifel was a marching route for French troops to all kinds of theatres of war. They demanded "forage money" from the local population, which just caused further impoverishment, as the records of Kottenheim show.
  Prussian rule began in 1815, but little changed in terms of social conditions: The Eifel, as a poor peripheral region of the empire ("Prussian Siberia"), was only of interest for military reasons. For Prussian officials and officers, mainly Protestants, a posting to the purely Catholic Eifel region was like a punishment sentence. However, the landscape changed as Prussia carried out systematic reforestation, albeit with coniferous trees that were not typical of the region.
  In the 19th century, the Eifel region suffered severe famines, especially in the years 1816/17, 1847 and 1879/80, and an 1853 memorandum records that "Many Eifel inhabitants know no food other than potatoes and bread that consists of a mixture of oatmeal and potato. It can be said without exaggeration that two thirds of the entire population only enjoy meat once a year." The consequences of the terrible food situation were only too obvious: "In 1852, only 10% of all those liable to enlistment were fit for military service.".“
  Due to its barren soils and the harsh climate, which led time and again to poor harvests, many farmers were in debt. According to reports of the winter of starvation in 1879/80, however, there was a wave of solidarity in the Reich, and in 1883 the "Eifel Fund" was established, through which, within 18 years, 5.5  millions Reichsmarks were raised for land improvement, for the afforestation of barren land and for land consolidation..
  For a long time, economic development was hampered by the poor condition of roads and tracks. However, due to its border location between the German Empire, Belgium and Luxembourg (as march routes to France), many railway lines were built since the foundation of the 
caption: Ivory artifacts from the Magdalena Cave
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