Abstract
The importance and function of Czech borders changed several times during last century. As a result, these changes influenced landscape and land use structure in border areas.
The existence of the Iron Curtain (1948 – 1990) had a special importance. The aim of this article is to examine land use changes along the former Iron Curtain, using two different methods, data sources, time horizons and studied territories.
The first approach describes land use changes in Czech regions adjoining former West Germany and Austria in the years 1948 – 1990 and 1990 – 2000, on the basis of cadastral statistics. The second part of this article uses the CORINE land cover database to assess changes of land cover in a 30 km wide belt along the former Iron Curtain (15 km on each side), stretching from the Baltic Sea to former Yugoslavia, between the years 1990 – 2000.
Results are presented in tables and graphs.