Coastscapes

Coastscape refers to the coastal zone characterized by habitation and interaction, and by practice and perception. In the coastscape I include the following components: (1) the linear or convoluted shoreline and the adjacent coastal lowland that may be inhabited and exploited by maritime communities; (2) the connective routes and openings into the interior, which are often dendritic and follow natural paths connecting coast and hinterland (e. g., streams, mountain passes). The landward limit of the coastscape is often defined by ridges or mountains that block views to the interior and impede easy passage; (3) the inshore waters that are utilized on a daily basis for economic and social purposes; and (4) the visual seascape, the everyday field of view that defines the cognitive horizon in the seaward direction, in recognition of a continuous cognitive landscape for which the land-sea interface is no boundary. Hypothetically, therefore, the limits of the coastscape extend from the coast to the connective passes inland and the visible seaward horizon, but topography has much to do with the size and scope of a coastscape. The coastline may be short or long, and the coastal lowland ranges from narrow and relatively isolated from the interior, to broad and relatively open to the interior. The visual seascape may be a broad horizon, or it may be obscured by coastal ridges, offshore islands, or neighboring mainland. The visual seascape of one coastscape may overlap with that of others.

Coastscapes are instantiated by practice. Coastal zones are distinguished by the inhabitation of coastal communities, and by their maritime and terrestrial activities. Everyday engagement with the sea involves fishing, local travel along the coast or to offshore islands, and pilotage and other interactions with ships and boats attempting to make landfall. The fishing boat and the coasting vessel, along with the pilot to assist larger ships to anchorage, would be characteristic of activity in the coastscape (Table 6.1). A coastscape may possess one or several anchorages, varying in size, depth, and exposure to winds and waves. It is a common practice in conditions of severe weather or strong winds to move boats from one anchorage to another nearby that is better protected, if one is available (Malkin et al. 2007: 1). Small anchorages may be used only seasonally or opportunistically to collect produce to be picked up by passing ships (Rothaus et al. 2003: 40), or as shelters from violent weather. The quality of a coastscape's harbors and anchorages for specific purposes plays a role, though not necessarily a determinative one, in its connectivity. Maritime activities occurring in the coastscape are understood to be nonspecialized in the sense that they do not require sophisticated navigational skills or knowledge of complex environmental phenomena. Within the confines of the coastscape and the small world, the part-time seafarer would possess adequate knowledge of nearby anchorages and their hazards, and it would not be overly risky to project good weather conditions for a trip lasting from a few hours to a day or two.

Coastscapes also witness a range of productive activities on land. Coastal settlements are rarely organized for maritime pursuits alone; land in coastal lowlands and accessible uplands is exploited, often heavily, for agricultural, pastoral, and wetland resources. These activities may not produce all of the goods required or desired by the community, which must as a consequence establish exchange relationships with maritime and inland partners. The movement of people and products between the coast and the interior has been documented as a pervasive mode of connectivity throughout antiquity, sometimes attaining a form of symbiosis. As at sea, routes and connections to the interior often overcome ostensibly formidable topographies; and like the visible features that mark a maritime network, routes may be indicated by villages, temples, and other monuments. Local guides may be needed to perform duties comparable to coastal pilots. New tracks to and through the interior are carved out in response to political conditions, for example to avoid taxes and hide from oppressors during the Ottoman period in Greece (Horden and Purcell 2000: 131).

Coastscapes share many properties of Horden and Purcell's “microecologies" and “microregions," but there are crucial differences. For Horden and Purcell, microregions appear to be aggregates of microecologies that may embrace coasts, lowlands, uplands, and interiors depending on existing environmental zones and, particularly, human efforts to integrate them.2 Their examples of the Biqa valley of the Lebanon and the central Cyrenaica demonstrate as much (Horden and Purcell 2000: 54—59; 65—74). The Biqa also shows that their microregions can be completely inland, with little or no regular contact with the sea. The coastscape, by contrast and by definition, centers on the shoreline and assumes a maritime orientation. The high mountainous areas and the interior zones beyond, forming an integral part of some of Horden and Purcell's microregions, lie beyond the realm of the coastscape. In marking this difference, I do not deny the existence or the significance of these broader interactive zones, and as mentioned above the interactions between interior and coast may be essential to sustaining maritime coastal life. Rather, the framework offered here is meant as an analytical and interpretive tool to address the particular problem of defining the nodes and networks of maritime connectivity. Coastscapes serve as these nodes, and through descriptions of them and of their variability across space and time, they become more than dots on a map or points on a graph of connectivity.