ABSTRACT. In order to understand the use and control of resources by indigenous households and bands, information on territorial division is crucial. However, although indigenous resource use has been quantified in several studies, such information has usually been lacking. A unique map provides this kind of information for the Swedish Sami. Drawn by Jonas Persson Gedda in 1671, before the Swedish state started to interfere with Sami territorial division, it shows the borders of 37 household territories. We have combined the geographical information from Gedda's map with historical sources and modern land survey data to quantify the resources controlled by each household and relate them to taxation. Three crucial resources are identified: alpine heath together with subalpine birch forest, pine-dominated forests, and fishing waters. Only the fishing resource showed any correlation to taxation, which underlines its importance as the main subsistence mode, at least for the forest Sami. Mountain Sami, who lived primarily on reindeer husbandry, controlled abundant alpine heath and subalpine birch forests that were used as summer pastures, but virtually no pine-dominated forests with winter pastures. The necessary winter pastures were located in the territories of the forest Sami, who controlled extensive pine-dominated forests and who were able to combine reindeer herding and wild reindeer hunting.Key words: northern Sweden, Sami, land use, historical maps, archival sources, 17th century, taxation, reindeer herding, reindeer hunting, fishing RÉSUMÉ. Pour comprendre l'utilisation et la gestion des ressources des groupes de peuples indigènes, il est essentiel de disposer d'informations sur la division territoriale. Cependant, si l'utilisation des ressources des peuples indigènes a fait l'objet de plusieurs analyses quantitatives, les informations sur la division territoriale font le plus souvent défaut. Pour les Samis de Suède, une carte unique fournit ce genre d'information. Établie par Jonas Persson Gedda en 1671, avant que l'État suédois n'ait commencé à intervenir dans la division territoriale des Samis, la carte montre les limites de 37 territoires familiaux. Nous avons allié les informations géographiques de la carte de Gedda à des sources historiques et à des données topographiques modernes pour quantifier les ressources contrôlées par chaque famille et les lier au système de taxation. Trois ressources naturelles fondamentales ont ainsi été identifiées : les landes alpines avec les forêts subalpines de bouleau, les pinèdes et les pêcheries. Il appert que seules les pêcheries étaient corrélées au système de taxation, ce qui souligne leur importance en tant que mode de subsistance, pour les Samis de la forêt à tout le moins. Les Samis des montagnes, qui vivaient surtout de l'élevage des rennes, contrôlaient les landes alpines et les forêts subalpines de bouleau abondantes qui étaient utilisées comme pâturages estivaux, mais pratiquement pas de pinèdes offrant des pâturages hivernaux. Les pâturages nécessaires se t...
Mires form a large part of the boreal Swedish landscape and are important for biodiversity and natural ecosystem processes. Historically, mires also played a key role for the expansion of agricultural practices, and later to create new forest land, but knowledge is limited on how the land use has affected the current ecosystem services and functions of mires. In this case study from northern Sweden, we have combined historical maps with remote-sensing data to analyze the use of mires over time. Here, 22% of the mire area has been used for hay harvesting, an activity that peaked in the late 1800s. Later, about 3% was reclaimed for intensive agriculture. Drainage to enhance wood production followed in the 1940s, and about 40% of the original mire area is currently forested. The most productive mires have been relatively more affected by human measures. We suggest that this past land use has legacy effects on several ecosystem services. Haymaking likely had positive effects on biodiversity, but may have negatively influenced carbon sequestration. Reclamation led to habitat loss and likely less carbon sequestration. Drainage to promote forest growth generally lowered the ground water level, which in turn enhanced peat decomposition and subsequently released CO 2. However, if tree growth outpaces peat decomposition, drainage could increase carbon sequestration. The overall carbon balance is hence influenced by past management regimes, which implies that past human use must be taken into account when considering the role of mires in providing ecosystem services.
Barrier fences are generally not considered to have been used in Sami reindeer husbandry in Sweden before the early 20th century. As a rule, they are thought to have been introduced with the transition from intensive to extensive herding that is assumed to have taken place at this time. However, in this study, we show that barrier fences were widely used in Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Arjeplog Municipalities from the mid-18th century onwards, especially in the forests. Until the early 20th century, these fences were built of local materials, mainly whole trees and boulders, and we therefore call them whole-tree fences. Some of the barrier fences were used during periods of loose supervision by herders who otherwise practised intensive methods, while others were built in a context of extensive herding, large herds and conflicts over land use. Extensive reindeer herding was thus practised in the area much earlier than usually presumed, and it overlapped with intensive herding in both time and space.
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