Ekológia (Bratislava) Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 75–91, 2012 doi:10.4149/ekol_2012_01_75 LANDSCAPE CHANGES IN THE CENTRAL PART OF THE KARVINÁ REGION FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY MONIKA MULKOVÁ1, PETR POPELKA2, RENATA POPELKOVÁ1 1 Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Chittussiho 10, 710 00 Ostrava – Slezská Ostrava, Czech Republic; e-mail:
[email protected],
[email protected] 2 Department of History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ostrava, Reální 5, Ostrava, Czech Republic; e-mail: Petr.
[email protected] Abstract Mulková M., Popelka P., Popelková R.: Landscape changes in the central part of the Karviná region from the first half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 75–91, 2012. This study deals with the impact of industrialization on the landscape in the Ostrava-Karviná Mining District. The authors focused on the analysis of the landscape changes in the central part of the Karv- iná region from the first half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Land cover and land cover development were analyzed in detail in the observed cadastral areas of Lazy near Orlová, Karviná-Doly, and Darkov. With regard to the existing data sources, the years 1836, 1947 and 2003 were selected as significant time milestones. Landscape changes derived from the image data sources of cadastral maps and aerial photos are explained in historical contexts related to the selected areas. Key