Geographia Polonica (2015) vol. 88, iss. 3

Spatially explicit changes in land ownership through 3 socio-political systems: A case study from southeast Poland

Andrzej Affek

Geographia Polonica (2015) vol. 88, iss. 3, pp. 519-530 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/GPol.0032

Abstract

Spatially explicit analysis of land ownership changes can provide a unique opportunity to trace land ownership and determine spatial patterns of inheritance. In this paper, the structure of land ownership in the age of feudalism (1852), communism (1965) and capitalism (2008) was reconstructed for a landscape-scale study area - the Upper Wiar River Basin in the Polish Eastern Carpathians. Austrian cadastre and post-war land registers were used as source data. Trajectories of land ownership changes were mapped and discussed. The similarity of landowner types was determined by means of correspondence analysis. The results generally showed how highly unstable land ownership is when socio-political systems are in flux.

Keywords: Austrian cadastre • land register • trajectories of landowners • feudalism • communism • capitalism • Upper Wiar River Basin

Andrzej Affek [a.affek@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland