When on holidays, I always come up with questions to AskHistorians. This time, about southern Germany.
During recent travels I read more than once that The Black Forest (Shwarzwald) was only settled in the high middle ages. This was contradictory with some other information like the usage of the Kinzig valley as an East-West trade route since roman times, and at the same time, in agreement with, for example, the founding of Freiburg or Offenburg. (all this verified with Wikipedia, sigh)
So, what's the actual deal? What was the state of that rugged, forested terrain, before, say, 1000 CE? Was it thick, unpopulated forest? Was it a lawless land with self-ruling bandits? Was it a periphery of little interest, with sparse settling by iliterate folks?
Uhm, I am from Freiburg, and I would say that that guide is definitely exaggerating and/or might have a very narrow definition of the 'Black Forest' and 'settled'. Haslach im Kinzigtal for example was definitely settled already during the first century - but its situated in a valley and the Romans build a road there. Many higher and more difficult to access areas might indeed have been settled rather 'late', but we're still talking many foundations from the 8th/9th century; also monasteries. More valuable and/or easy to access areas, such as for example the Zähringer Burgberg from my neighborhood, show signs of settlement from neolithic times onward, and there is definite proof of first celtic, then Alemannic fortifications. I mean, the Schwarzwald as a mountain range is pretty big and has a diverse history and landscape,so it really doesn't make much sense to make such generalising statements as in your tour guide. But let's hope for actual experts around here - I can for now provide a link from a report of our public broadcasting service, which basically summarizes what I wrote: