Formerly Roman-populated areas of Germany still tend to be wealthier than areas where they did not settle, in part thanks to the Roman Empire’s infrastructure, new research suggests.

That, plus political unity and Roman economic systems all boosted trade, agriculture and the extraction of resources.

These difference can still be seen today, according to a new study that shows former Roman areas are richer and more densely populated than former Germanic territories.

The differences can even be proven for directly neighbouring regions, says historian Fabian Wahl from the Vienna University of Economics and Business.

The Roman Empire, lasting from 625 BCE to 476 CE, started with the establishment of the city of Rome. Over the centuries that followed, it expanded militarily and economically, increasing

its reach throughout the Mediterranean and beyond.

The Romans built forts, roads and engineering feats such as aqueducts. Beyond infrastructure they also established a unified currency, administration and bureaucracy. They erected buildings, including facilities for plumbing and sanitation.

Germany as we know it today was never fully conquered by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, Germania was a vast area stretching from the east of the Rhine River to the Danube – encompassing today’s Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.

The frontier of the Roman Empire ran from the left bank of the Rhine through to Augsburg in Bavaria, with the Romans covering a third of modern-day Germany. The line that marks the area they reached is known as the Limes Germanicus, the frontier of fortifications that bound the Roman provinces, separating them from the Germanic tribes further north and east.

The former Roman areas in Germany are more densely populated even today, and they are also wealthier and more life-affirming. Citizens start more businesses and live on average six months to a year longer, the research shows.

“We compared counties, cities and even individuals in the immediate vicinity of the old Roman border, the Limes,” says Wahl.

You would actually expect there to be no major differences because the regions are so close and the landscape is almost identical, he says.

“The Roman border was often drawn rather randomly and not according to economic considerations,” he adds.

The Limes north-east of Stuttgart ran for 80km in a dead straight line as if drawn with a ruler.

“So it wasn’t the case that the Romans consistently colonised fertile areas and ignored poor soils,” Wahl says. “Then today’s differences would be relatively easy to explain – but that’s not the case.”

From economic development, innovation and entrepreneurship through to personality traits, life satisfaction and health of inhabitants, Wahl published three studies each focusing on a different aspect of the advantages stemming from Roman settlement.

For example, trying to ascertain population density, Wahl and his team looked at night-light intensity of the different German regions and realised that the former Roman areas still shine brighter at night.

Looking into the effects of the Romans on personality traits such as conscientiousness or consideration, they analysed data from some 90,000 survey participants.

“In total, over 100,000 observations were included in the studies,” says Wahl.

Roads played a key role in the differences, according to Wahl.

The persistence of the Roman road network until the present is an important factor giving formerly Roman areas a developmental advantage, both by fostering city growth and by allowing for a denser road network, the researchers say.

Today, many German motorways still follow Roman trade routes amazingly closely.

Roman foundations such as Cologne, Trier and Mainz became bishoprics early on and therefore remained important administrative centres in the Middle Ages.

Within the city of Cologne, property prices in the once Roman-populated left bank of the Rhine are still higher today than on the right bank of the Rhine, then seen as barbarian country.

“It can be argued, for example, that the Roman bathing culture established higher standards of hygiene, which then had an effect far beyond Roman times,” Wahl says. – dpa