Asia Tribal groups in the
northeastern Indian states of
Tripura,
Arunachal Pradesh,
Meghalaya,
Mizoram and
Nagaland and the
Bangladeshi districts of
Rangamati,
Khagrachari,
Bandarban and
Sylhet refer to slash-and-burn agriculture as
podu,
jhum or
jhoom cultivation. The system involves clearing land, by fire or clear-felling, for economically important crops such as
upland rice, vegetables or fruits. After a few cycles, the land's fertility declines and a new area is chosen.
Jhum cultivation is most often practiced on the slopes of thickly-forested hills. Cultivators cut the treetops to allow sunlight to reach the land, burning the trees and grasses for fresh soil. Although it is believed that this helps fertilize the land, it can leave it vulnerable to
erosion. Holes are made for the seeds of crops such as
sticky rice, maize, eggplant and cucumber. After considering
jhums effects, the government of
Mizoram has introduced a policy to end the method in the state.
Vietnam is home to a diverse range of ethnic groups. Some of these groups form primarily rural communities that reside far from the larger cities of the country, living on swidden fields where slash-and-burn agriculture is still in regular use as a part of everyday life.
Americas Some American civilizations, like the Maya, have used slash-and-burn cultivation since ancient times.
Native Americans in the United States also used
fire in agriculture and hunting. In the Amazon, many peoples such as the
Yanomami Indians also live off the slash and burn method due to the Amazon's poor
soil quality. Indigenous peoples in what is now modern-day Brazil also utilized slash-and-burn agriculture as land management in the
Atlantic Forest prior to European colonization.
Portugal In Portugal, slash-and-burn agriculture was historically known as
roças and
queimadas. Until the early 20th century, it was a pervasive element of the rural economy, particularly in the southern regions of
Beira Baixa and
Alentejo, as well as in mountain areas. The French historian
Albert Silbert, in his study of the region's agrarian history, described the practice as a "mode of production that occupied a central place in agricultural life," noting similarities to tropical swidden systems. The traditional agricultural cycle involved cutting vegetation in the spring, allowing it to dry, and burning it in August. The ash fertilized the soil for the cultivation of cereals such as rye, wheat, and barley, which were planted with the onset of the first rains. This practice supported a socio-ecological mosaic of cultivated fields, moors (
charnecas), common lands (
baldios), and woodlands. , Sweden (1904)
Telkkämäki Nature Reserve in
Kaavi, Finland, is an
open-air museum where slash-and-burn agriculture is demonstrated. Farm visitors can see how people farmed when slash-and-burn was the norm in the
Northern Savonian region of eastern Finland beginning in the 15th century. Areas of the reserve are burnt each year. ======== is a form of slash-and-burn agriculture practiced in Sweden and Norway. It originated in Russia in the region of
Novgorod and was widespread in Finland and Eastern Sweden during the Medieval period. It spread to western Sweden in the 16th century when Finnish settlers were encouraged to migrate there by King
Gustav Vasa to help clear the dense forests. Later, when the Finns were persecuted by the local Swedes, farming was spread by refugees to eastern
Norway, more specifically in the eastern part of
Solør, in the area bordering Sweden known as
Finnskogen ("the Finnish woods"). The practice spread to
New Sweden in North America. Reinforced by the use of fire in agriculture and hunting by
American Indians, it became an important part of pioneering in America. In the second and third year the field would be sown with
turnips or
cabbages. It then might be grazed for several years before being allowed to return to woodland.
culture required felling new forest and burning a new area every year. It was necessary to allow the former fields to regrow with forest for 10–30 years before repeating the cycle. As a result, the dwellings were often many kilometers from the fields. Furthermore, since the process was man-power intensive, extended families tended to work together and live in compact communities. The farming approach required a large area. When forest was plentiful, the Finns were very prosperous. As population grew and restrictions were placed on the forest which could be burned, it became increasingly difficult. By 1710, during the conflict with Sweden, because of their suspect loyalties Norwegian authorities considered expelling them from the border area, but did not do so because it was judged they were too poor to survive if evicted. > >> >> The following content was added by
User:Svedjebruk (who seems to be an expert on the matter) and soon after removed by a bot, apparently because of Youtube references. Svedjebruk might be a Swedish citizen and his wording seems awkward to me. I add the statements again, invisible to the reader, hoping someone with more of an insight comes along and translates the meaning of these passages into digestible English. >> >> >> Note: all swedish-language terms not found in the english Merriam-Webster dictionary - excluding placenames and the names of people - should be placed inside a language tag: . >> >> >> The heads of swidden family groups or clans (noite) had to have, at all times, an overview of their own clan's activities in order to put together these three parameters to a kind of "rubik-cube", according to their own experiences and conscious thought. The time frame covers the first three cues of removal of the existing vegetation, which is controlled by man. The next three deal with the new vegetation, crops, and regrowth of new forests. The time between harvest and regrowth varies from direct transition to regrowth through a number of years with a second use of swidden (vuoma) to never regrow, i.e. direct transition from the crop (pühä) to a permanent farm place / settlement (Piha). Natural influences noite need only register and take into account in assessment: climate with rain, wind, temperature, drainage conditions, soil type, topography, flora and fauna, but he mastered his seeds brought for planting. Noite coordinate so that all valves within the clans function: technology with adequate treatment of the area at the right time, cutting, burning, and social order. Runic poetry was a faithful helper in the exploitation of past experience and knowledge, and poems thankfully have the ability to survive generations. Swidden cultivation requires a large number of people in the group to survive as an operational unit. It is a complex cycle of synchronized processes performed by individuals and / or groups in binding cooperation. Such production union is often called a clan, extended family, kind, thiod, ätt, or tribe; in Russian plemja, rod; in Persian tauma, and Sanskrit jana, kula-. The village name in today's Finno-Ugric languages is küla. The word küllä is a reinforced yes: those that say yes and agree. Each man in swidden society had significance as a participant in the community, not as a person. Individualism was an unknown phenomenon in this society. Complex cultivation cycles consist of a variety of carefully synchronized tasks, performed by individuals in an intimate partnership. This interaction should be so well established that the individual is synonymous with the community. These sophisticated procedures are perceived badly by outsiders, and in older literature, are often characterized as religious rituals without being given any practical significance. Only rarely have outsiders been able to understand the functional correlation. Swidden cultivation was dependent on that the various procedures were correctly and synchronously executed. Incorrect procedure was disastrous and could not be accepted. So ruled a cult excluding, polytheistic religion. Religion set the bar of worldly knowledge, as well as a communication process where the knowledge was kept alive through constant practical use, and new knowledge was developed and displaced useless routines with new rituals. The code was ruled by the forest, air, and water spiritual beings. Skogsråa / wood nymphs, giants and dwarfs lived in the underworld (allima), and they were given three functions: to help those people who respected and appreciated the forest spirits, to punish those who broke the rules of the forest, and to remind people that in the forest, man is not the boss, and cannot act arbitrarily. Similarly, the air (taevas) and water spirits, (jumal) were both helpers and punishers. == ... ==