Zmiany środowiska przyrodniczego wokół wsi wołoskich na północnych stokach Karpat w XV i XVI wieku

Abstract

The problem of the impact of colonization on the natural environment in the 15 th and 16 th centuries has so far not been addressed by historians. Many publications were limited to only mentioning various symptoms of this phenomenon, without making efforts to analyse this phenomenon in more detail. This article aims at supplementing these inadequacies at least partially. There was a sudden demographic growth of the local population in the 16 th century, manifested by the mass founding of new villages and the population growth in the older settlements. One of the consequences of this phenomenon was the limiting of pastoralism in favour of tillage. This activity resulted not only from the gradually shrinking grazing areas and their impoverishing, but also from the efforts of great landowners supporting the agriculture which was offering more profit. The aim of the article is to present in what way these processes influenced the local natural environment. Various historical sources from the 15 th and 16 th centuries (the nobility’s inventories and surveys, location charters, entries in court documents) were used in order to present the changes in the forestation status, to indicate diverse factors influencing its reduction, and to address the problem of species’ impoverishment of forest vegetation, wild game and degradation of natural mountain meadows. The efforts to limit the presence of some of these unfavourable phenomena were made, and the assessment of their application was made.