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even the breed of cattle that they raised was different. That's why in connection
with historical development and characteristics of settlement, the term “
Sudeten
landscape sample” is occasionally used.
Tens or hundreds of small workshops and factories which carried on the old
tradition of home production (canvas, glass, woodwork) were strongly scattered
regionally, and created a distinguishing characteristic of the landscape. In excep-
tional conditions, some areas with small metalworks and manufactories developed
into strong industrial centres (for instance, Decín or Chomutov). The landscape was
interwoven with a dense network of trails, which usually reached dominants located
on heights (towers, lookouts or guesthouses with restaurants). Tourists took advan-
tage of spatially dispersed accommodation in summer homes or family pensions,
so there was no concentration in recreational resorts as there is now. The landscape
was burdened pretty evenly, and a dense railroad and road network enabled peo-
ple to commute to work in factories. Communication pathways were distinguished
by many small architectonic elements (overpasses, footbridges), which were deli-
cately placed into the landscape. Waterways were often edged with walkways. Use
of energy from waterways was also unique (small water power stations).
Gradual concentration of population and economic activities, together with land-
scape use
restructuralisation
(induced by industrialisation and urbanisation and
emphasised in the totalitarian period 1948-1989) led to formation of new require-
ments on the landscape. The landscape changed from having a predominantly
productive (or residential-productive) function to a multi-functional one. Larger
regional units were gradually created, with different dominating functions: core
regions (with industrial, mining, residential service industry); and transitional and
peripheral regions with functions that are less disruptive for the environment (exten-
sive agriculture, mainly concentrated on pastoral cattle husbandry, ecological and
water management functions, etc.).
Type A: “Coal basin” Bílina area (total size 4.600 ha, average altitude 200 m
above sea level), is placed in a favourable and exposed location in Most basin
on the regional development axis (Cheb - Karlovy Vary - Chomutov - Ústí nad
Labem). This rolling, and now practically deforested landscape lies at about 200
m above sea level. Relief in the northern and eastern part of this area is signifi-
cantly anthropogenically affected because of extensive open-pit mining activities.
A historical trading road stretched along the Bílina River catchment, which flows
through the central Bílina area. Bílina was inhabited in primeval times, as archae-
ological remains in today's Bílina town document. There was a Slavonic fortified
settlement here in the Tenth century. This previously very fertile and intensively
used agricultural region developed into a region with quite new functions, because
of the development of large-scale open-pit brown coal mining. These functions are
“dictated” not by local reasons but by whole-society requirements. Many small
settlements have perished. Population differentiation is distinguished by extreme
polarisation and concentration of population in one location. Currently there is
very high employment in industry (43%), and conversely very low employment in
agriculture. Of 15.900 inhabitants, only 51% were born here (so they are “natives”).
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