Black Triangle (region)

The Black Triangle (German Schwarzes Dreieck) is a border region shared by Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, long characterized by extremely high levels of pollution. The term was coined in the 1980s. For decades, industrially produced air pollutants (chiefly sulfur dioxide), water pollution, acid rain and other effects took an enormous toll on the health of local residents and the surrounding environment.

After the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, the three nations acted to cut emissions. This has resulted in significant environmental improvement.

In shape the "triangle" is more similar to a crescent, an industrial corridor roughly 60 kilometers wide, lying on either side of the northern Czech border extending from the German town of Bad Brambach on the west to the Polish town of Bystrzyca Kłodzka at the eastern end. The approximate center is the national tripoint at Zittau. Politically the "triangle" consists of:

The Polish portion includes the southernmost "panhandle" of the Gmina Bogatynia, where the vast Turów strip mine has extracted lignite resources since 1904.

The entire area is framed by mountain ranges which form a local climate, trapping air and intensifying the effects of the air pollution.

The general area is historically known for its natural resources and mineral deposits, and had traditional glass, ceramics, and textiles industries. The Ore Mountains between Saxony and Bohemia have been the scene of multiple Berggeschrei ("silver rushes") over centuries, the first in 1168. From that discovery at Christiansdorf (part of the Freiberg Mining Field), mining was carried out uninterruptedly in the Ore Mountains until 1990. Amongst the raw materials mined over the course of centuries were ores of the metals silver, tin, zinc, cobalt, nickel, copper and lead; anthracite and uranium were also extracted into the 20th century and were engines for the economic development of Saxony.

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