Economy of Aberdeen
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- this article covers the non-oil related economy, see Oil Industry in Aberdeen for that area.
Traditionally Aberdeen was home to fishing, textile mills, ship building and paper making. There industries have all but gone now and have been replaced with high technology developments in the electronics design and development industry, research in agriculture and fishing and of course the oil industry which has been largely responsible for Aberdeen's economic boom in the last three decades.
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[edit] Traditional (pre 1970)
Most of the leading pre-1970s industries date from the 18th Century, amongst them woollens (1703), linen (1749), and cotton (1779). These gave employment to several thousands of operatives. The paper-making industry is one of the most famous and oldest in the city, paper having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694. The industry has however, all but collapsed. Donside Paper Mill closed in 2001 and the Davidson Mill (run by BPB Paperboard) in 2005. Flax-spinning and jute and combmaking factories also flourished, along with successful foundries and engineering works.
Richards of Aberdeen textile mill also closed in November 2004, bringing an industry spanning hundreds of years to a painful close.[1]
In the days of wooden ships ship-building was a flourishing industry, the town being noted for its fast clippers, many of which established records in the "tea races". The introduction of trawling revived this to some extent, and despite the distance of the city from the iron fields there was a fair yearly output of iron vessels. The last major shipbuilder in Aberdeen, Hall Russell, closed in the late 1980s.
[edit] Granite
Owing to the variety and importance of its chief industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in Scotland. Very durable grey granite was quarried at Rubislaw quarry for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving "setts", kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world. The terraces of the Houses of Parliament and Waterloo Bridge in London were built from Aberdeen granite. Quarrying finally ceased in 1971.
[edit] Fishing
This, though once the predominant industry, was surpassed by the deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus from improved technologies throughout the 20th Century. Lately, however, catches have fallen due to overfishing in previous years, and the use of the harbour by oil support vessels. Aberdeen remains an important fishing port, but the catch landed there is now eclipsed by the more northerly ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh. The Fisheries Research Services is based in Aberdeen, including its headquarters and a marine research lab.
[edit] Agriculture research
Aberdeen is well regarded for the agricultural and soil research that takes place at The Macaulay Institute, which has close links to the city's two universities. The Rowett Research Institute is a world renowned research centre for studies into food and nutrition located in Aberdeen, it has produced three Nobel laureates and there is a high concentration of life scientists working in the city.[2][3]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Jobs go at Aberdeen textile firm. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
- ^ History and Background. Rowett Research Institute. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.
- ^ A Scientist's guide to Scotland. New Scientist. Retrieved on 2007-02-08.
[edit] External links
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