This country, which combines natural and human scenery, is located in Apennine Peninsula.
Apennine Peninsula is like a boot embedded in the Mediterranean Sea, which is long and narrow from north to south.
Historically, the collision of different cultures in the north and south of Apennine Peninsula has brought great differences between the north and the south to Italy. This difference between north and south is manifested in all aspects of Italian life. The north pays more attention to efficiency, while the south is more unrestrained.
▲ Italy is divided into north and south, and red is the south.
Although Italy is a highly developed country, the Italian economy has formed a situation in which the capital Rome is the boundary, the northern region is economically developed and the southern region is relatively backward, and the gap between the north and the south is widening.
▲20 15 European per capita GDP map, Italy is rich in the north and poor in the south.
First, the ancestors of the south used to be rich.
Italy is an ancient country in Europe. As early as the Paleolithic Age, there were human beings living and activities here. Before the establishment of Rome, the Greeks began to establish their own states in the southern Apennine Peninsula and Sicily.
After the establishment of the colony, Greeks and war slaves moved to Apennine Peninsula one after another. The climate of Apennine Peninsula is mainly Mediterranean, with mild and rainy winter, hot and dry summer and sufficient light and heat, which is suitable for the development of planting.
Later, the ancient Romans established political power in Apennine. A large number of slaves plundered by ancient Rome through foreign wars brought sufficient labor resources to the south and stimulated the development of plantation agriculture.
After centuries of plantation agriculture development, South Italy was extremely rich at that time.
In addition, the coastline of Apennine Peninsula is tortuous and there are many excellent harbors. With the development of port trade, southern Italy became the center of Rome and later the Roman Empire. The disappearing ancient city of Pompeii is one of the witnesses of the prosperity of southern Italy.
▲ The geographical location of the ancient city of Pompeii was once a holiday resort for ancient Roman nobles before it was swallowed up by Mount Vesuvius.
However, a careful observation of the map of Italy shows that most of the topography of the peninsula is dominated by mountains, and the largest principle of Po River level is distributed in the north.
Po River has a long rainy season and abundant water resources. Bohe Plain has flat terrain, high sediment concentration, large sediment content in the lower reaches and more fertile soil than in the south.
The natural conditions in the north are superior to those in the south, so the development in the north should be better than that in the south. However, during the Roman Empire, northern barbarians (including Gauls, Celts and Germans) were always a headache for the Roman central government.
In order to prevent the invasion of barbarians in the north, the Romans used the natural barrier of the Alps to build many military fortresses in the north to prevent the invasion of barbarians. The northern cities represented by Turin are mostly built on the basis of military fortresses.
As an outpost to resist the barbarians in the north, the development cost is high, so although the natural conditions in the north are superior, the economic center of Italy is in the south and the north is in an undeveloped state.
Second, the north counterattacked and the south declined.
In the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. In 476 AD, the Germans officially destroyed the Western Roman Empire, and Europe entered the Middle Ages. Italy began to fall into a state of division of 1000 years, and gradually split into many countries of different sizes.
Germans began to enter the Apennine Peninsula, gradually merged with the locals and became residents of northern Italy. The hidden dangers of northern barbarians have been eliminated, and the advantages of northern Italy have gradually become prominent. It was from this time that the north gradually completed its counterattack against the south.
In addition to the superior natural conditions in the north, trade routes also played an important role. In AD 7 1 1, Arabs crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and occupied the Iberian Peninsula. Since then, the Iberian Peninsula has been ruled by Muslims for nearly 800 years, and the Gibraltar Strait, the lifeline of the western front, has also been controlled by Arabs.
The Strait of Gibraltar was blocked by aliens, and the Apennine Peninsula in the center of the Mediterranean gradually became the center of Mediterranean shipping companies. More businessmen choose to transfer their goods to the European continent through northern Italy.
The development of Mediterranean trade zone has promoted the economic prosperity of Venice, Genoa, Lombardy and many other cities.
Although the latitude in the south is low, it is rich in light resources. However, the southern terrain is dominated by hills and mountains, and the population during the Greek colonial period and the Roman period was relatively small. The south can rely on a large number of slave labor to reclaim land to meet the needs at that time.
However, with the disintegration of slavery and the improvement of productivity, Italy's population surged. The terrain in the south can no longer support more people. Italy's economic center began to move northward, with flat terrain and abundant water resources.
After the demise of the Western Roman Empire, the remnants occupied central and southern Italy for a long time, and the productivity developed slowly, which greatly restricted the development of southern Italy.
At the same time, the economic prosperity in northern Italy promoted the ideological emancipation in central and northern Italy, resulting in the Renaissance, which not only affected the historical process of Europe as a whole, but also laid the foundation for the later renaissance.
With the development of industrial revolution and capitalism, Italy's fragmented state has increasingly become a natural barrier to economic development. Calls for national reunification are getting louder and louder everywhere.
In Italy at that time, Sardinia and two Sicilian kingdoms were the two most influential countries, Sardinia in the north and two Sicilian kingdoms in the south.
1852, Gafur became the prime minister of Sardinia, and he passed a series of reforms, such as fiscal and tax reforms, to increase fiscal revenue; Encourage the construction of railway ports to develop industry and commerce, reduce tariffs and develop free trade, making Sardinia the most developed area on the peninsula and the concentrated area of bourgeois liberals, laying the foundation for the reunification of Italy.
However, the two Sicilian kingdoms in the south are economically backward, retaining feudal autocracy, and the king is corrupt and incompetent. Therefore, the responsibility of revival and independence finally fell on the shoulders of the northern kingdom of Sardinia.
Gafur also achieved Italian reunification through diplomatic means. 1859, Sardinia and France defeated Austria and recovered Lombardy and Venice. 186 1 year, the Kingdom of Sardinia was renamed the Kingdom of Italy.
Subsequently, with the help of the Puao War and the Franco-Prussian War, Italy drove the Austrian-French allied forces out of the Apennine Peninsula. 1870, the papal state of Rome was merged into Italy, and Italy completed national reunification.
Third, a heavy step that restricts Italy's progress.
Although Italy has achieved national reunification, the gap between the rich and the poor between the north and the south is too large, which is a headache for the government both in the Kingdom of Italy and the Republic of China.
1946, the Italian Republic was founded. In order to narrow the regional gap, the government has developed new industrial zones on the basis of stabilizing the traditional industrial zones in northwest China.
This move has achieved certain results, promoted the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Italy, and also promoted the rapid development of the entire Italian economy. Become a high-income country with a per capita GDP of $32,000 and a G7 industrial country. In some cities in northern Italy, the local living standard can even be comparable to that of Switzerland next door.
Northern Italy has always been a fashion and luxury center, with many luxury brands such as Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini, and many luxury goods such as Armani, Gucci and Fendi. There are few famous brands in the south.
However, the new industrial policy did not benefit the southern region, but further widened the gap between the north and the south. The backward economy in the south has weakened Italy's ability to resist risks.
When the European debt crisis swept the whole EU, northern Italy became the engine of Italian economic recovery with its strong industrial base, but the southern region with weak economic base has been trapped in the economic crisis.
The poor south has become a drag on Italy's economic recovery. When the economies of the EU countries generally pick up, Italy is due to the south? Slow down? Growth has been weak.
▲ Italy receives the most refugees crossing the sea (data 20 17).
The backwardness of the south has also brought a series of social problems. Southern Italy is near North Africa. In recent years, many refugees have landed in the southern region from the Mediterranean, and the security problem is particularly prominent.
Italy attracts many tourists with its rich natural and human resources. But many people travel to Italy and only choose to go to the north-central part. However, the scenic south is discouraged by the public security problems brought about by poverty.
The widening gap between the rich and the poor has also caused the identity crisis of the whole country. For example, in Serie A, the northern teams represented by Milan and Juventus, and the southern teams represented by Naples, are even more abusive.
Politically, this gap reflects the risk of national division. The north thinks that the south has become a burden for Italy's development, and it feels that it has a lot of labor, but it has to pay a lot of taxes to subsidize the south. Poor guy? .
The separatist forces caused by this imbalance have become stronger during the economic downturn. Some right-wing parties in northern Italy are calling for autonomy and even independence from Italy.