ABSTRACT
Barmen is one of the oldest areas of industrial activity in western Germany. The Barmen textile industry developed from a bleachery, which since 1527 was protected by a licence of the sovereign prince. The growth of the density of population shows impressively the results of the increase in the nineteenth century. In the course of the nineteenth century the older settlements grew together and joined up with this centre; the centres of these villages with their churches and markets have however been preserved. The density of population in Barmen as early as 1698 suggests that it was no longer an area of purely agricultural settlement. A sign that even then industrial activity predominated was the small supply of com, which the householders possessed. The growth in population was determined solely by industrial development. The crafts created the necessary employment, the income from which supported the workers and their families.
