MORAVIAN GEOGRAPHICAL REPORTS - Institute of Geonics ...

Vol. 18, 4/2010 MoraVian geographical reports
images (since the 1970s). Although these information
sources vary in scale, accuracy and information value,
they represent the only base for long term land use
development study.
The main hypothesis for the central Spiš region land
use study is: “Was the land use development of the
study area different (due to its natural and social
conditions) from the other neighbouring regions?”
2. Study area
The study area is situated in the Spiš region (NE
Slovakia) and lays mainly in the Hornadska kotlina
Basin (Fig. 1). The rectangular study area (558 km 2 )
was designed in order to cover the Central Spiš
cultural landscape with four main urban centres
(Spišská Nová Ves, Levoča, Spišské Podhradie and
Spišské Vlachy) and its mountain border (Levočské
vrchy Hills from the north, Mt. Branisko from the
east, Volovské vrchy Hills and Slovak Paradise Mts.
from the south). The major part of the territory
bedrock is composed of sandstone, claystone,
limestone, travertine and breccia (paleogene
sediments of the Podtatranska skupina Group, flysh
sediments and travertine (Gross, 1999; Ložek, 1973).
The land is formed with basin-heights relief and
a network of dellen valley, dellen basin and furrows
Fig. 1: The study area in the Spiš region
go through the whole basin. In the vicinity of the
Hornád River (Novoveská kotlina Basin and Vlašská
kotlina Basin), there are numerous high and middle
river terraces (Michaeli, 2001). The climate of the
territory is mild warm, mild wet, with cold winter and
average temperatures ranging from 6 to 7 °C. Mean
annual precipitation amount is 600 – 700 mm (Lapin
et al, 2002). The prevailing soil type is Cambisol. The
present wood composition is dominated by Norway
spruce (Picea abies, L.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris,
L.) and black pine (Pinus nigra, L.), large stretches of
mixed forests are situated in the south (Miklós, 2002).
Despite the fact that the area is geographically rather
isolated (a mountain surrounded basin), it played
an important role throughout the history. People
inhabited the Spiš region in the prehistoric times
(Neanderthal skull found in Gánovce near Poprad)
and the territory was continuously inhabited in
historical times by the Celts and by Teutonic tribes. In
the times of the Great Moravia Empire, the territory
of Spišská Nová Ves and its vicinity was already an
important regional centre. The colonization was
discontinued in middle of the 13 th century because of
the Tartar invasion. After this period, only a part of
the original population had returned and rebuilt their
homes in the old settlements. In order to compensate
for the population loss, new colonists from Czech
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