The city of Timisoara was one of the first places where the Industrial Revolution appeared in the Eastern Europe. Since the 18th century when the Habsburg administration was installed, Timisoara has been the center of an important economic area. With the Austrian colonization, the ethnic and religious diversity and the innovation of laws, the economy began to develop. The technicians and craftsmen that settled in the city established guilds and helped develop the city’s economy.

• 1718: The first beer factory in Transylvania was built
• 1722: The Bega River is transformed into a navigable channel [115 km]. Banat is connected to the European navigation system.
• 1728: in Timisoara the first tobacco mill in Romania is set-up
• 1753: the first documented theatre organized in Timisoara
• 1771: “Temesvarer Nachrichten”, one of the first newspapers in Central and Eastern Europe is edited in Timisoara
• 1854: the first telegraph is set up connecting Timisoara to Vienna
• 1857: Timisoara is the first illuminated [with gas] city in Romania
• 1869: the first horse-tramway is inaugurated in Timisoara [at only 15 years from the world’s debut in Paris]

See also:

• The beer factory in Timisoara
• Electric street lighting in Timisoara
• Bega Canal Timisoara