The ''Altsiedelland'' ("old settlement land") is a German term that refers to populated areas in those parts of

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

that were settled relatively early, historically speaking. The ''Altsiedelland'' was the result of early historic land acquisition in Central Europe in about the 5th to 8th centuries. The preferred settlement areas were those that were easy to develop for agriculture: the ''

börde A ''börde'' (plural: ''börden'') is a region of highly fertile lowland in North Germany, a "fertile plain". These landscapes often cover great areas and are particularly important for arable farming on account of their rich soils. These region ...

'', loess and basin regions in what is now central and southern Germany, the Gäu landscapes in the southwest and the dry

geest Geest is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outwash pla ...

ridges in the northwest, that were also referred to as ''Gunsträume'' or "favourable areas". Initially they were settled by individual or double farmsteads, or small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

s (such as the so-called '' Drubbel''). From the Carolingian period onwards, the growing population also began to develop less favourable terrain by extending the farmland of existing settlements or clearing the forest in previously uninhabited areas and laying out new villages. These new areas are, logically, referred to as the ''Jungsiedelland'' ("new settlement land").

Literature

*Walter Schlesinger: ''Die deutsche Ostsiedlung des Mittelalters als Problem der europäischen Geschichte'', Reichenau-Vorträge 1970–1972, Sigmaringen, 1975.

External links

Kulturlandschaft und ländliche Räume
( PDF) University of Duisburg-Essen, Grundlagen der Humangeographie
Das Werden einer Kulturlandschaft
Umweltakademie Jugendprogramm Umweltspione Settlement geography Germany in the Early Middle Ages History of European colonialism

See also

Literature

External links