Cultural landscape

A cultural landscape is a landscape that is or has been shaped by human activity. There can be very different degrees of human influence, and it can therefore be difficult to draw a clear boundary around what belongs to the cultural landscape. Some examples of cultural landscape are cultivated land, meadows with grazing or mowing, logging in the forest, gardens and parks.

Contents

The history of the cultural landscape

Throughout history, humans have influenced the landscape in various ways. After the ice retreated around 10,000 years ago, people lived as hunters and gatherers for several thousand years. They influenced the landscape to a relatively small degree, since they were not very numerous and were constantly moving to new areas. Around 600 years ago we began to clear forest and cultivate the land. This increased our influence on the landscape. Settlements became more permanent, and the farming landscape was divided into innmark, hay meadows and pasture.

There was often not enough fodder on the farm for all the animals. People therefore began to establish summer farms on the hillsides near the villages and up in the mountains. At the summer farms the animals could graze, and mowing was carried out to have fodder for the winter. When the forest was felled or burned off, grass grew better, and the livestock prevented the regrowth of forest by grazing down bushes and scrub. Manure from the animals contributed to more grass growth.

The utmark (uncultivated land) with foliage and pasture was a precondition for food production. First, it provided fodder for the livestock, and second, manure from the animals made permanent arable farming possible. Cultivating the soil made food resources more stable and the population grew.

Industrialisation changed farming

Around the year 1900, artificial fertiliser came to Norway. This changed farming quite considerably, since one was no longer so dependent on livestock manure and could now cultivate the same field year after year. The fields became larger, and there came to be some large-scale farmers with big farms who had many people in work. The cottars who worked on the farm were allowed to live on a small cottar’s holding with pasture for a couple of cows and a little land for growing food for the family. On the cottars’ holdings, parts of the old cultural landscape with grazing and mowing were preserved. At the same time, modern agriculture arose, which is also a cultural landscape, but with extremely heavy human influence.

Since 1950 there have been major changes in the plant life of the farming landscape. The mechanisation of agriculture, together with the use of weed-killing chemicals and artificial fertiliser, has led to a sharp decline in the biological diversity of plants. This has also had a major effect on the number of insects. When the diversity of plants is reduced, the same happens to insects and other small animals and to bird life.

Since industrialisation, towns and built-up areas have grown. Now about 4 out of 5 Norwegians live in towns or built-up areas, and cultural landscapes have developed around the towns with small gardens, parks, recreational areas and trees along roads and paths.

Plants in the cultural landscape

Plant life in the cultural landscape

The most heavily human-influenced cultural landscapes are often not very species-rich, but areas that are grazed or mown over a long period develop a quite special vegetation, which can only persist if the area continues to be grazed or mown. Many species are well adapted to a steady grazing pressure. Grazing or mowing keeps the most competitive species down and makes room for the species that need good light conditions and do not fare so well in very dense vegetation. Some species have their growth stimulated by being grazed now and then, and many species also benefit from the grazing animals spreading their seeds.

Some plants have developed various types of defence to protect themselves against grazing. This may be thorns, stinging hairs or chemical defence. Sølvbunke is a grass often found in cultivated meadows. It is also called skjæregras (cutting-grass), because the leaves are so rough that cows cut their tongues on them. They therefore avoid it, and over time tall tussocks develop. Bakkesoleie is another common plant on grassland. The cows do not graze on it because it tastes bad and causes skin irritation. One therefore often sees many bakkesoleier in grazed land.

Different grazing animals graze on different plants. If you would like to make the best possible use of the grazing area and would like to maintain a great diversity of grazing plants, you should let in different grazing animals. Variation in the landscape is of great importance for the number of species. Belts of vegetation, stone walls and hedges around the farmland provide both a greater diversity of plants and good habitats for many larger and smaller animals.

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Next steps

• Lakes, watercourses and bog — another biotope
• The mountains — another biotope
• Forest — another biotope
• Learn more about plants — species knowledge and reference
• Plants — the hub

Learn more

• Artsdatabanken — species, status, red list
• SNL — norsk botanikk — encyclopaedic
• Sopp- og Nyttevekstforbundet — courses and inspection
• Botanisk forening — Norwegian botany community

Text Lærke Søndergaard Stewart, Snuitide (2022)

• Sources

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  Urtekildens Planteleksikon: https://rolv.no/urtemedisin/medisinplanter.htm