Review article
Environmental history in Croatia – the Origins, state and perspectives: views from geography and history
Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš
orcid.org/0000-0002-6754-4884
; Department of Geography University of Zagreb, Faculty of Science Zagreb, Croatia
Hrvoje Petrić
orcid.org/0000-0001-6814-0913
; Department of History University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Although we can trace the environmental history thought back to the Old-World writers and philosophers, and some environmental history topics have been present in Croatian scientific literature since the 19th century, modern environmental history, embedded in scientific methods and procedures, and particularly as a defined and/or institutionalised (inter)disciplinary field, began to emerge only in the 20th century. The first screening of the research in Croatia, taken fifteen years ago (2010), marked geography and history as two core disciplines in environmental history research in Croatia. As this review focuses on environmental history research in Croatia, the approach is based solely on published research by researchers from institutions in Croatia and within the two core disciplines: geography and history. Although there is undoubtedly valuable environmental historical research on Croatian territory by authors from foreign institutions or by researchers from other disciplines, due to its interdisciplinary nature, these were not taken into consideration. The review will draw attention to the development of environmental history thought, approaches and research in Croatia. Its institutionalisation may be placed at the very beginning of the 21st century, by introducing the university courses of Environmental history (within geography study) and Ecohistory (within history study), foundation of the Society for Croatian Economic History and Ecohistory and its interdisciplinary journal, and by organising conferences at various levels, including the 9th European Society for Environmental History (ESEH) conference in 2017. The review outlines the development paths, main thematic and methodological approaches, and topics of environmental history research through the geography and history lenses since the beginning of the science-based research in Croatia, as well as some perspectives.
Keywords
environmental history; Croatia; history; geography; ecohistory
Hrčak ID:
346171
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2025.
Visits: 287 *