Past, present and future of transhumance in Portugal

Abstract ID: 3.5572 | Not reviewed | Requested as: Talk | TBA | TBA

Luis Filipe Neves Carreira Dos Santos (1)

(1) Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, Room L214, Estrada da Serra Quinta do contador, 2300-313 Tomar, PT

Categories: Conservation, Culture, Policy, Tourism
Keywords: Transhumance, Culture, Policy

Categories: Conservation, Culture, Policy, Tourism
Keywords: Transhumance, Culture, Policy

Abstract

Transhumance, the oldest form of animal management, has been practiced since the Neolithic era, involving animal domestication and adaptation to regional environments. The mountainous Iberian Peninsula, with its hot, dry summers, naturally favored transhumance, widely adopted in Spain and Portugal. In Portugal, records of long-distance transhumance date back to prehistoric times, peaking in the medieval period and continuing into the late 20th century. This activity was vital for centuries, especially in Portugal’s mountainous regions reliant on grazing, with evidence of movement from the North (Gerês to Trás-os-Montes), Center (Montejunto to Estrela), and South (Monchique, Espinhaço de Cão, and Caldeirão) involving sheep, goats, cows, and pigs. Today, only a few locations still practice a transtermitance type of migration along ancient Estrela routes, underscoring the need to support these vanishing communities. The last recorded long-distance route taken by transhumant shepherds was to Serra de Montemuro in 1999. Currently, folklore and tourism provide a glimpse into the historical practice of transhumance in these regions. The future of Portuguese transhumance remnants relies heavily on tourism, sporadic academic initiatives funded by European projects, and financial support from municipalities that recognize the benefits of integrating traditional systems into modern land management models. Rethinking current and future perspectives highlights the necessity for resilient integrated models to revive these practices.

Choose the session you want to submit an abstract. Please be assured that similar sessions will either be scheduled consecutively or merged once the abstract submission phase is completed.

Select your preferred presentation mode
Please visit the session format page to get a detailed view on the presentation timings
The final decision on oral/poster is made by the (Co-)Conveners and will be communicated via your My#IMC dashboard

Please add here your abstract meeting the following requirements:
NO REFERNCES/KEYWORDS/ACKNOWEDGEMENTS IN AN ABSTRACT!
Limits: min 100 words, max 350 words or 2500 characters incl. tabs
Criteria: use only UTF-8 HTML character set, no equations/special characters/coding
Copy/Paste from an external editor is possible but check/reformat your text before submitting (e.g. bullet points, returns, aso)

Add here affiliations (max. 30) for you and your co-author(s). Use the row number to assign the affiliation to you and your co-author(s).
When you hover over the row number you are able to change the order of the affiliation list.

1
1

Add here co-author(s) (max. 30) to your abstract. Please assign the affiliation(s) of each co-author in the "Assigned Aff. No" by using the corresponding numbers from the "Affiliation List" (e.g.: 1,2,...)
When you hover over the row number you are able to change the order of the co-author list.

1
1
2
3
1
Close