People in the Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 514

triggered by the application of steam engine technology. Many mountain people have
sought seasonal or permanent employment outside the mountains or in new and ex-
panding industries in the major mountain valleys, resulting in a “vertical migration”
from the higher and often still remote mountain areas to the valleys, foothills, and plains
at the margins of the Alps. This livelihood-based migration, in turn, started to depop-
ulate some areas and heralded the process of urbanization in the emerging economic
cores. The development of hydroelectric potential enhanced the process. The coincident
development of transportation technology stimulated the further development of mass
tourism, which opened a variety of new livelihood activities.
In the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya, the last 200 years encompass the arrival
of colonialism, which introduced strategic/military and commercial interests on a large
scale and new ways of administering and regulating access to land and resources, both
of which radically changed existing livelihood systems. In this period, the vast mountain
areas of west and southwest China were subject to the in-migration of large numbers of
Han (Chinese) people with their new and different technologies, commercial interests,
administrative practices, and ways of life. In North American mountain regions, the past
250 years encompass the period of commercialization and industrialization based on ex-
traction and trade of furs, forest products and minerals, new technologies, the influx
of many outsiders of European heritage, and the demise of the indigenous populations
through disease and genocide. The central Andes experienced similar changes over the
much longer period of some 500 years. With the arrival of the Spanish “conquistadors,”
and the onset of the Spanish colonial hegemony that succeeded that of the Inca in the
highlands, takeovers of land and the translocation of indigenous peoples, in part to work
in the mines and colonial agriculture (the mita system), took place (Cole 1985).
The transformation of livelihoods in many mountain regions, while benefiting some,
decimated indigenous populations and harmed their traditional cultures and livelihood
systems. In general, there have been transformations in livelihoods and ways of life not
seen before, and this process accelerated through the twentieth century to the present.
This section describes four main sources of livelihood: hunting and gathering; mining;
forestry; and trade and artisan livelihoods. Two other very important sources of liveli-
hoods, agriculture and tourism, are addressed in Chapters 11 and 12, respectively.
Hunting and Gathering
Archaeological evidence indicates that Paleolithic hunters and gatherers were present
in many mountain areas. The ecological diversity was ideal for hunters and plant gather-
ers. By locating along the lower mountain forest boundary, people found a variety of
food types available within a relatively short distance. By following the migrating wild-
life up and down the mountains as they moved from summer to winter pastures, hunters
had an abundance of prey, which, along with the flora, provided an abundance of food
throughout the year. Other advantages included plenty of firewood and shelter, fish,
water available year round from mountain streams, and defensible locations. To early
hunters and gatherers, the resources scattered over a variety of microecosystems with
seasonal variability provided a rich environment. To take advantage of such an environ-
ment, hunting and gathering required a high degree of mobility, but, for the most part,