Changing Physical Environment and Settlement in the Hungarian

Drava Plain in the 18-20th Century

Péter Gyenizse, Institute of Geography,

Dénes Lóczy, Ervin Pirkhoffer, Institute of Environmental Sciences

University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Ifjúság útja 6.

E-mail: gyenizse@gamma.ttk.pte.hu

Since the 13th century: between the Almás and Okor steams and the Drava river Origin of the name: Finno-ugric ormo = emerging ridge or Turkish orman = forest

Ormánság

Geomorphological districts

Drava floodplain

Ormánság mounds

Fekete-víz and Pécsi-vízalluvial fan

Pécs Basin

Landscape history

• latest colonization in South-Transdanubia• more than 1000 km2 inundated during Drava floods • swamps: protection during the Mongolian Invasion and Turkish Occupation

Gyöngyös stream

Almás stream Okor stream

Pécsi stream

Changing landscape

Changes in the Fekete-víz drainage basin (after Erdősi, F. 1977)1 = stagnant water at the beginning of the 19th century; 2 = water-mills; 3 = stream channel at the beginning of the 19th century; 4 = braided channel across marsh at the beginning of the 19th century; 5 = artificial channel reach formed since the middle of the 19th century; 6 = former reach abandoned during artificial diversion Promjene u sljevnom području Fekete-víza (prema Erdősi, 1977)1 = stagnirajuća voda na početku 19. stoljeća; 2 = vodenice; 3 = korita na početku 19. stoljeća; 4 = prepletena korita u močvarnom području na početku 19. stoljeća; 5 = umjetni kanal izgrađen od sredine 19. stoljeća, 6 = napušteni dio kanala nakon umjetnog skretanja

Functions by altitudinal zonesBogdása church

floodplain

forest

• below 95 m: permanent waterlogging – fishing• ca 95-97 m: seasonal waterlogging – gathering • ca 97-100 m: forest – stock breeding, foddering

• above ca 100 m: arable farming, settlements

Vertikalne zone korištenja zemljišta Ormánság-a

Settlement density in the Árpád Age (until the 14th

century) (by Péter Gyenizse)

Settlement density in 1783-84 (by Péter Gyenizse)

Settlement density in the 20th century (by Péter

Gyenizse)

Nagycsány viewed from church hill

Microtopography, drainage and settlement

Planform changes in Sellye, 1784-1991 (by Péter Gyenizse)

1784 1856-60 1880 1950 1967 1991

97,1-98m 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

98,1-99m 0.0% 0.8% 0.0% 0.4% 0.4% 0.7%

99,1-100m 0.9% 1.6% 3.4% 11.4% 12.7% 31.6%

100,1-101m 3.4% 19.6% 18.8% 15.0% 14.6% 17.2%

101,1-102m 23.3% 23.3% 28.0% 29.1% 28.2% 17.9%

102,1-103m 35.5% 25.5% 23.0% 21.6% 21.3% 17.2%

103,1-104m 22.2% 18.6% 17.3% 13.1% 13.1% 8.7%

104,1-105m 5.3% 5.0% 4.2% 4.1% 4.5% 3.6%

105,1-106m 3.8% 2.2% 2.2% 2.4% 2.4% 1.7%

106,1-107m 1.6% 0.9% 1.0% 1.2% 1.2% 0.6%

107,1-108m 0.7% 0.5% 0.4% 0.6% 0.5% 0.3%

108,1-109m 2.4% 1.4% 1.2% 0.8% 0.8% 0.4%

109,1-110m 0.6% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1%

110,1-111m 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1% 0.0%

Topografija okolice Sellye i promjene u izgrađenom području

Population changes in South-Transdanubian settlements, 1784-1870 (1784 = 100%) (by Péter Gyenizse)

Pécs

Sellye

Szigetvár Szentlőrinc

SiklósHarkány

Pécs

Sellye

Szigetvár Szentlőrinc

SiklósHarkány

Population changes in South-Transdanubian settlements, 1870-1941 (1870 = 100%) (by Péter Gyenizse)

Shrinking forests, 1784-1880

(by Péter Gyenizse, from maps of Miltary Surveys)

Population changes in South-Transdanubian settlements, 1941-1990 (1941 = 100%) (by Péter Gyenizse)

Many thanks for your attention