Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.21861/hgg.2010.72.01
The Impact of Microtopography and Drainage on Land Use and Settlement Development in the Hungarian Drava Plain
Péter Gyenizse
; Institute of Geography, Institute of Geography University of Pécs
Dénes Lóczy
; Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Pécs
Abstract
The physical environment and society are closely interrelated and the role of physical conditions can be detected in the economic development and spreading of settlements in the Hungarian section of the Drava Plain. Throughout the history of the region, land use has always been fundamentally controlled by the topographic and hydrographic situation. Even relief of a metre or two has been decisive in delimiting areas suitable for fishing, gathering, forests or crop cultivation. Although the flow regulation of the Fekete-víz and the drainage of swamp-lands at the end of the 19th century reduced flood hazards and made new land available for cultivation, at the same time, they made the traditional life-style of gathering, fishing and hunting unfeasible for the poorer layers of society. Settlements formed on the higher-lying flood-free mounds ("ormány"-s). The paper employs GIS techniques in the study of spatial expansion of the largest of the settlements, the town of Sellye. It is concluded that the areas below 100 m elevation could only be developed following drainage measures.
Keywords
relief; land use; land drainage; human settlement; settlement development; South-western Hungary
Hrčak ID:
56201
URI
Publication date:
15.7.2010.
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