North-south divide Flashcards
What is the questione meridionale?
The southern question
Who grappled with the questione meridionale?
Intellectuals and politicians
What did they focus their work on?
On an attempt to understand why the south had fallen into such poverty and what could be done to alleviate it
What were the theories or possible reasons for why the south had fallen into such poverty?
Poor economic structure
Geographical location
History
Poor treatment by the north
What did southern intellectuals call for?
Southern intellectuals called for greater economic investment and new fiscal policies
What was actually done?
Very little was actually done
What did Italy’s politicians tend to do?
Italy’s politicians tended to ignore the major issues facing the south
How long was it since an Italian PM visited the south?
No Italian PM visited the south until 1902 (32 years after unification)
What happened by 1911?
The situation had worsened
How did the situation worsen?
Industrial economic expansion focused on large northern cities such as Milan, Turin, Genoa and Bologna and the southern agriculturally based economy stagnated which led to an increase in poverty in the south
What did the government census show?
That almost half of Italy’s 2.2 million industrial workers were employed in the northern provinces of Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont
What were the provinces known as?
The provinces of Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont was known as the industrial triangle
What did the industrial triangle focus on?
The 3 major cities of Milan, Genoa and Turin
What did the southern population suffer from?
Poor diet Malnutrition Lack of clean drinking water High rates of infant mortality Malaria Tuberculosis
What happened between 1910 and 1911?
25K people in Naples died due to an epidemic of cholera caused by poor drinking water
