Task C

1. c
Climate change and human
activities
By nature northern Germany (wet triangle) went through a
transformation from Ice shield and Tundra to a swampy
uninhabitable region plus a few scattered hills.
What has been done during the last 2000 years to make this area a
livable one.
To explain, apply the terms:
Wurt, Dike, dewatering
Explain the term:
“Spatenrecht”
Tundra: Tundra is a treeless, cold, and dry ecosystem found in Arctic and
high-altitude regions, characterized by permafrost in the soil. The
vegetation in tundra is low-growing shrubs, grasses, mosses, and lichens
adapted to survive in the harsh conditions. The environment is sparsely

2. populated by humans and the flora and fauna have unique strategies to
survive in this extreme environment.
Over the past 2000 years, a series of measures have been taken to
make the Northern region of Germany habitable. One of the
main methods used has been the construction of "Wurts" and
"dikes". Wurts are small, man-made elevations in the terrain that
are constructed using soil and materials available in the area and
are used to build buildings or settlements that are protected from
floods. Dikes, on the other hand, are larger and more complex
structures that are built along rivers and coastlines, with the aim
of preventing flooding of the land.
Another important method used to make the region habitable has
been the dehydration of the soil. Due to the high amount of water
in the area, the soil is very wet and unsuitable for agriculture or
construction. To solve this problem, drainage systems and canals
have been built to divert water and remove excess moisture from
the soil.
In summary, the construction of Wurts and dikes, as well as the
dehydration of the soil through drainage systems, have been some
of the key measures used to make the Northern region of
Germany habitable over the past 2000 years

3. Spatenrecht
In the marshlands along the North Sea coast, but also in the Elbe
and Weser marshes, the spade has always been the main tool not
only for the reclamation of land, but also for the construction of
sluices and weather. "Spatenland" as it has been preserved in the
name of Hamburg's Spadenland district (land cultivated with a
spade and wrested from the water)
The Spatenrecht was a law handed down from the Middle Ages
in northern Germany and laid down in writing since the 15th
century and forerunner of today's law. In the narrower sense,
spade law referred to the custom of giving up, pledging or
withdrawing the power of disposal over a certain piece of land by
symbolically piercing a spade.
In a broader sense, spade referred to the totality of rules handed
down in a particular region, the jurisdiction over one or more, in
particular, the obligation of the members to cooperate in their
maintenance. Those who did not comply with this dike
obligation in the long term were excluded from the association
and lost their land at the same time.
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