Het Meetjesland. Bodem en landschap in historisch perspectief

Abstract

The Meetjesland lies in northern Flanders, bordering the left Scheldt bank, part of The Netherlands, called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. This border zone belongs to the medieval inundated polders. The larger part of the Meetjesland to the south belongs to the lowland coversand region. Since the beginning of the historical and geographical research of this region, there has been a severe discussion between historians and geographers about the evolution of the landscape in medieval times. Was this region before the 14th century a former reclaimed peatland or an originally poor coversand-area with sheep farming for woolproduction? This paper wants to gather the arguments and facts to support the latter hypothesis.

Keywords

• peat excavation
• sheep-farming
• street-villages