Reformation and heterogeneity – connection between cultural and environmental manifestation in three spatial regions

Abstract

The main aim of this explorative work is to study the connection between the spatial distribution of protestant population (religions affected by reformation) and the spatial heterogeneity of land cover. The empirical approach of the paper excludes any historical or cultural analysis. It is irrespective for the generating processes, and rather initiates a descriptive overview. The target is the relation, and the general quality of this relation between two basic factors of landscapes – forming effects out of social and natural sources – throughout a comparative case study. If the existence of this relation is objectively confirmed as results of this analysis, a future follow-up research shall investigate the existing causal relations and describes how the ecologically influential spatial structures of the landscapes are connected to social processes like the reformation. Recent study has an objective attitude to the descriptive analysis, and applies spatial statistic methods in NUTS 3 regions of three ‘study areas’: Hungary, Germany and Romania. The utilized input data was collected from the 2011 census and from the landscape indexing of low resolution multispectral satellite remote sensing data of MODIS satellite mission. The interpreted statistical results show a significant underlying background effect between the spatial heterogeneity and the spatial distribution of protestant citizens. The nature of this relationship is to be investigated in the future. The outputs of this study intends to show a direction for the explorative research by providing the first step-stones in the form of significant landscape indices, basic descriptive statistics and rough estimation of the strength of the underlying effect.