Who developed the concept of cultural landscape?

Unveiling the Story Behind “Cultural Landscape”: It’s More Than Just Scenery

Ever heard the term “cultural landscape” and wondered what it really means? It’s a concept that pops up in geography, ecology, even when folks are trying to preserve old places. Basically, it’s all about how humans and the environment dance together. While the idea of landscapes shaped by us has been around for ages, a few key thinkers really hammered out the details and made it a thing.

Now, the idea didn’t just appear out of thin air. Think back to those old landscape paintings – artists were already hinting at the connection between people and place. Even way back in 1850, a smart cookie named Alexander von Humboldt was talking about how we need to see nature both as it is and how we think it is. Pretty deep, right?

But here’s where it gets interesting. A German geographer named Otto Schlüter was the first to actually use “cultural landscape” – or “Kulturlandschaft” in his language – as a proper academic term. Back in 1908, he was arguing that geography should be all about studying landscapes. He made a distinction between the “Urlandschaft,” which is the original, untouched landscape, and the “Kulturlandschaft,” the one we humans have messed with (or improved, depending on how you look at it!). For Schlüter, the main job of geography was to see how these two landscapes changed over time.

However, the person who really brought this idea to the masses, especially in the English-speaking world, was Carl Sauer. This guy was a total legend in American geography. Sauer, working at Berkeley, basically said, “Hey, look! We’re not just living in nature, we’re shaping it!” He blended culture, society, and the environment together in a way that was totally new. In his famous 1925 book, “The Morphology of Landscape,” he defined a cultural landscape as a natural landscape that’s been molded by a specific group of people. He saw humans as agents imprinting their culture on the land.

Sauer was a rebel, too. Back then, a lot of people thought the environment was the only thing that determined what humans did. Sauer said, “Hold on a minute! Culture matters too!” He wanted people to study how cultures actually interact with their surroundings. It wasn’t just about what the environment made them do.

Since Sauer’s time, the idea of cultural landscapes has taken off like a rocket. People from all sorts of fields have used it, argued about it, and expanded on it. Thinkers like J.B. Jackson added their own twists. Even UNESCO, the folks who decide what places are important to protect, have a definition of “cultural landscapes” and use it to help preserve world heritage sites.

So, who really developed the concept of cultural landscape? Well, it’s a bit of a team effort. But if you had to pick one person, Carl Sauer is the name that most often comes up. He’s the one who really put the idea on the map and got people thinking about how we shape the world around us, and how it shapes us in return. It’s a pretty cool concept when you dig into it, and it makes you look at the world in a whole new way.