Drift Sands and Local Governance in NW Portugal (1580-1870)

Northern Environmental History Network

NEHN March: Ana Isabel Lopes on Portuguese Sand Dunes and vulnerability, collective action, and landscape change

Were past societies able to cope with coastal changes? This is the central question that led to the study of the impacts and strategies to defend against drift sands processes of communities in Northwest Portugal between the late 16th century, after erosion submerged some medieval parishes, and the mid-19th century when these geomorphological processes were a national main topic. Starting from the question of how coastal communities resisted natural hazards, some key objectives were formulated: <ol><li>To identify drift sands' occurrence, frequency, evolution, and intensity.</li><li>To assess the impact of drift sands on environmental, economic, and social structures in the short, medium, and long term.</li><li>To examine the different resilience strategies developed and determine whether they contributed to developing a new landscape in dune systems.</li></ol>However, in a broader context, the aim is to interpret human-environment interactions through geomorphological and climatic conditions, natural constraints on human activities, and human disturbance of nature and to understand how communities have been able to resist or adapt to changes in their region in the past, depending on the available resources.By cross-referencing different documentary information (a broad and diverse range of written documentary sources, produced at a more personal level, by local institutions or by the Portuguese state), are defined moments of higher occurrence and intensity of drift sands related to existing conditions potential impacts and communities' resilience and adaptation through developed responses and their impacts in the landscape in long-term. The conclusions of this project will allow recognition of the importance of recent geomorphological evolutionary processes in natural and human systems that intervene directly in the occupation, appropriation, and transformation of coastline, in economic development and demographic mobility, in infrastructure, health, and other processes, as well as the importance of history as a complement to natural science research.~Ana Isabel Lopes (University of Porto, Portugal) is a PhD student in History at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto and a collaborative researcher at CITCEM – Transdisciplinary Research Centre «Culture, Space and Memory». She holds a bachelor's degree in History and a master's degree in History and Heritage (specialization in Local and Regional Studies) from the same institution. Her research focuses on drift sands, their impacts, and the resilience and adaptation strategies employed by communities and their institutions on the northwest coast of Portugal, as well as the exploitation of maritime resources from the 16th to the 20th centuries. [Presenter's photo: Archaelogical remains at Fão, Northern Portugal]

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Drift Sands and Local Governance in NW Portugal (1580-1870)

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