Land use as a means of the landscape revitalization: an example of the Slovak exclave of Tardos (Hungary)

Abstract

The landscape surrounding village Tardos (Tardos in Hungarian) in the north of Komarom-Esztergom County is a part of the cultural heritage of Slovaks in Hungary. The study analyses the issue of the revitalisation of the landscape in the context of its use (historical land use). Current state of the local landscape represents the result of the migration of ethnic groups to the territory of Tardos and its subsequent colonisation. Since the end of the first quarter of the 18th century the process of revitalisation of the abandoned landscape had been associated with the arrival of the Roman Catholic settlers from the counties located north of the Danube river (Nitra and Trencin). The new population began to cultivate devastated landscape of the Tardos-Tolna basin in the Gerecse Mountains. The aim of this paper is to characterize the Tardos land use with an emphasis on the period from 1725 (Slovak colonisation of the defunct village territory) to 2017. A brief assessment of the land use during the period before the arrival of the Slovak colonists is included in the study. Recent changes of areas in the analysed territory are characterized by land use classes (LUC) during the last 300 years (1725-2017) in the context of natural (geoecological) and social factors. Besides these data a framework proposal for the management of the local landscape is suggested. The development of the historical land use after the arrival of the Slovaks is outlined in the thematic maps, chart with LUC areas in particular periods and in diagram. The methodology used and the results achieved can be applied in the study of the land use of other Slovak exclaves in Tardos surroundings. Findings concerning the local land use changes with an emphasis on the period after 1725 can be possibly taken into account in practice of the creation of an integrated landscape management of the surveyed territory or in the process of consolidating the local population identity.