Arcadia | Environment & Society Portal

Arcadia, 2014, no. 6

The First Cholera Epidemic in St. Petersburg

Kseniya Barabanova

The first cholera epidemic in St. Petersburg, then capital of the Russian Empire, brought to light the city’s enormous sanitary problems. During the course of the epidemic 12,540 people sickened and 6,449 died.

Arcadia, 2014, no. 5

The Man-Made Environment of Valaam Island

Grigory Suzi

Valaam Island on Lake Ladoga is the location of the Orthodox Valaam Monastery. Due to the creation of alleys and gardens carefully cultivated by the monks, many non-endemic trees and plants acclimatized successfully. As a result, Valaam’s largely man-made environment is today considered to be one of the most dense and diverse biospheres in Europe.

Arcadia, 2014, no. 4

A Laboratory for the Implementation of "Wilderness" in Central Europe—The Bavarian Forest National Park

Bernhard Gissibl

The Bavarian Forest National Park, situated in South-Eastern Germany along the boundary with the Czech Republic, was established as the country’s first national park in October 1970.

Arcadia, 2014, no. 3

Bitten by Success: Conflicts Over Tourism Revenue and Natural Resources at Komodo National Park

Steven Rodriguez

The expanding popularity of Komodo National Park has engendered conflicts over access to its resources and tourism revenue.

Arcadia, 2014, no. 2

Nature Conservation in Ski Country? The Vanoise National Park

Isabelle Mauz

The Vanoise National Park was created in 1963 in the northern French Alps, along with numerous large ski resorts. Born as twins, the park and the resorts grew up at best as strangers, at worst as foes.

Arcadia, 2014, no. 1

“I Prefer to Die on the Mountain”: Local Resistance to National Park Development on Mount Merapi

Steven Rodriguez

In 2004, the government of Indonesia declared Mount Merapi to be the nation’s thirty-ninth national park. However, since the mountain is a key feature of the sacred landscape of central Java, the creation of Merapi National Park was greeted with widespread protests from the villagers and farmers.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 21

Cosmopolitan Trout: The 1883 Fisheries Exhibition and the Global Expansion of Fish Culture

Michael Del Vecchio

Between 1875 and 1925, trout expanded beyond their native haunts to inhabit every corner of the globe. London’s Fisheries Exhibition in 1883 was a catalyst that ignited a transnational fish-culture revolution and turned trout into a cosmopolitan species.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 20

How Birds Became Europeans: Bird Protection Activists Cooperating across Borders for Supranational Protection

Jan-Henrik Meyer

In April 1979, the European Communities (EC) adopted the Council Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC), the so-called “Birds Directive.”

Arcadia, 2013, no. 19

Northern Bison Sanctuary or Big Ranch? Wood Buffalo National Park

John Sandlos

The Canadian government established the Wood Buffalo National Park in 1922 to protect a remnant herd of wood bison. The park has become North America’s biggest national park and is still home to the largest free-roaming herd of wood bison. However, the park’s wildlife has also been subject to some of the most intrusive and ill-conceived management interventions in Canadian history.

Arcadia, 2013, no. 18

Munich and Its Isar River: A Rafting Port on an Alpine River

Georg Jochum

The construction of a bridge over the Isar River was a crucial factor in the foundation of the city of Munich in 1158.

About Arcadia

Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History is an open-access, peer-reviewed publication platform for short, illustrated, and engaging environmental histories. Embedded in a particular time and place, each story focuses on a site, event, person, organization, or species as it relates to nature and human society. By publishing digitally on the Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia promotes accessibility and visibility of original research in global environmental history and cognate disciplines.

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