Meliorace v českých zemích od poloviny 19. století do konce 50. let 20. století
| Title in English | Reclamation in the Czech Lands from the Mid-19th Century to the End of the 1950s |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Národopisná Revue |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://revue.nulk.cz/narodopisna-revue-4-2023/ |
| Keywords | Landscape intervention; land reclamation; water management; rural collectivization; communist Czechoslovakia |
| Description | Between 1948 and 1989, large-scale drainage and improvement works were carried out every year in the former Czechoslovakia, which ultimately completely changed the face of the Czech Lands’ landscape. Streams, rivulets, baulks, field shrubs, dirt roads, “useless” meadows and pastures, small ponds, wetlands and swamps disappeared. In its first part, the study focusses on a brief description of the development and characteristics of land reclamation in the Czech territory from the 19th century to 1948. In its second part, it pays attention to a quite short but – from the point of view of the development of land reclamation works in the former Czechoslovakia – a very important period from 1948 to the end of the 1950s. During this time the Czech countryside experienced enormous and revolutionary property and social changes as a result of totalitarian communist policies. The private sector was, with few exceptions, liquidated, agricultural production was controlled, centralized and gradually industrialised. The way was opened for massive amelioration interventions, which became one of the symbols of the Communist regime‘s rule over the Czech and Moravian countryside, was open. |