Remote grazing
Under remote pasture one summarizes those forms of pastoralism in the livestock together, where the feeding grounds of the animals are not just around a permanent resident.
The history of the development of migratory livestock farming can be traced back to antiquity. Pasture forms adapted to the natural environment developed into various forms of remote grazing. In addition, social, political and economic developments strongly influenced the phenomena of the livestock industry. Long-distance grazing is a traditional way of life in original regions in which arable farming is not possible due to the natural environment . Mountain regions of the humid subtropics as well as subtropical arid regions (steppes, full and semi-deserts) are typically zones of the most highly developed remote grazing. One problem with newer state structures is that the artificial demarcation of boundaries has severely restricted former migratory movements (N-Africa) and in some cases completely prevented them (Balkans, Asia Minor).
Individual forms of remote grazing are herd driving (e.g. sheep, cattle) or following (reindeer) nomadic pastoralism (constant wandering, in a stricter form completely without a fixed place of residence, or commuting between places of residence), transhumance (seasonal wandering), alpine farming ( seasonal commuting between valley and mountain) and hat farming (occasional farmer grazing ).
It is estimated that 200 to 500 million people on earth live mainly from traditional forms of remote grazing. Since these farming methods are very often combined with soil construction, a more precise figure cannot be determined.
Remote grazing of the Balkan peoples
The Mediterranean mountain regions of Iberia and the Balkans are considered to be the classic European region of long-distance grazing . Today, even in the Balkans, intensive herding (as in the Dinarides ) is rarely found. Taking advantage of the natural conditions, the cattle-breeding, cultural behavior of the Balkan peoples uniformly shaped their social and cultural development. A side by side, partly in the immediate vicinity, and close interweaving of the various forms of pasture farming has created a differentiated use of space that was also based on ethnic characteristics.
The Aromanians - An ethnic group specialized in herding
The Aromanians , mainly spread south of the Danube, were considered to be the principal representatives of a nomadic ethnic group. They played an important role in long-distance trade on the Balkan Peninsula in the 19th century . Nomadic migrations were widespread until the First World War . The emergence of the nation states from the bankrupt estate of the Ottoman Empire after the Berlin Congress in 1878 and the Balkan Wars in 1912/13 required a change in the remote grazing industry, which was not inhibited by any territorial borders within the Ottoman Empire. Herd migrations between summer pastures in Prokletije and winter pastures, adapted to the respective political realities and agricultural developments, took place, for example, to the Sava lowlands, the Albanian lowlands, the Kampania of Thessaloniki, the Morava lowlands and Kosovo . Ultimately, such herd migration with hiking trails of up to 300 km as the crow flies was abandoned by switching to alpine farming.
The border of the original herd migration extended northwards into Herzegovina, Montenegro, Metohija (Kosovo), southern Serbia and Bulgaria south of the Balkan Mountains. Only in regions where agriculture does not seem to be suitable for any other type of economy due to the natural environment has it been able to last longer. In Herzegovina, for example, forms of transhumance and long-distance grazing were still evident after the Second World War . Continental areas of the Dinarides belong to the area of alpine pasture farming (Slovenia, Gorski Kotar, Bosanska Krajina, Central Bosnia, Sandžak, North Montenegro and Western Serbia). Forms of Mediterranean alpine farming can be found in Velebit, Herzegovina and West Montenegro.
The Kolibawwirtschaft in the high karst of Montenegro
In the Dinaric Karst , only small-scale migration movements are possible due to the scarcity of water in the mountains. With the hummingbird economy, Kayser describes the traditional economy in western Montenegro ( Orjen , Grahovo ).
- In the hummingbird economy, nomadic characteristics are clear. The Koliba is a well-built milk processing hut, which also serves as a house and is inhabited by the whole farming family or at least most of them during the summer. The winter house in the area of the permanent settlement is either completely abandoned and locked during the summer, or some family members remain there who are not needed for summer grazing. The koliba stands on or in the vicinity of the summer pasture area and is nothing more than a well-built alpine hut. Where the Wiehwirtschaft is in the foreground of employment and the nutrition of the residents, family life takes place entirely in the Koliba during the summer. The distance between the Koliba and the winter dwelling does not play a role; even if it is only 10 minutes away, they will move in during the summer and leave the winter house. It shows how much this summer move to the Koliba is one of the most popular and common customs of the Montenegrins. The distances vary greatly between the closest proximity and several hours away, depending on the location of the summer pastures that the milk processing hut follows. In the karst landscape of Grahovo and Orjen, the distances to the hummingbird economy are short, as only the poor bush forest pasture ( Macedonian oak ) on the karst plateaus immediately around the residential property is used.
credentials
- Arnold Beuermann: Remote grazing in Southeast Europe. A contribution to the cultural geography of the Eastern Mediterranean. Westermann, Munich 1967 (at the same time: TH Aachen, Habil.-Schrift).
- Thede Kahl: Effects of new borders on remote grazing. In: Cay Lienau (Ed.): Spatial structures and border areas in Southeast Europe. Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-925450-94-7 , pp. 245-272 ( Südosteuropa-Jahrbuch 32).
- Kurt Kayser: West Montenegro. A cultural geographic representation. Engelhorn, Stuttgart 1931 ( Geographical Treatises. Series 3, Vol. 4, ZDB -ID 504022-x ), (At the same time: Berlin, Univ., Diss., 1929).
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sustainable Pastoralism and Post 2015 agenda. www.unep.org, accessed on December 9, 2014 PDF version