Gyulai Éva - Viga Gyula (szerk.): Történet - muzeológia : Tanulmányok a múzeumi tudományok köréből a 60 éves Veres László tiszteletére (Miskolc, 2010)

GAZDASÁGTÖRTÉNET - Viga Gyula: Történeti-néprajzi szempontok a Felföld gabonaforgalmához

VIGA Gyula 1990 Árucsere és migráció Észak-Magyarországon. Ethnica. Debrecen-Miskolc 1996 A tájformáló társadalom. Megjegyzések a kultúra ökológiájához. A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve, XXXIII-XXXIV. 271 283. Miskolc The grain trade of Upper Hungary from a historical and ethnographic perspective The grain trade of Upper Hungary (part of north-eastern Hungary until 1920, today a region divided between the eastern part of northern Hungary and eastern Slovakia) is excellently suited to illustrating that the intention of striking a balance between scarcity and surplus was not an automatism, but rather a process of interaction and cooperation between changing historical structures. The expressive dichotomy of privation and abundance in the case of cereals, an indispensable commodity for the region's population, is a trait expressing not merely quantitative, but also qualitative differences regarding differing conditions and techniques of production, different social access and, not least, diverse pattern of usage. The organic relationship between space, economy and social culture can naturally be perceived in the latter. The natural conditions formed the obvious basis of the overall system, as a result of which a mosaic patterning can be noted in cereal cultivation. The northern boundary of cereal cultivation also marked the boundary between major agricultural systems. Obviously, the availability of agricultural land in smaller areas and around individual settlements disrupted the uniformity of these zones both to its south and north (elevations, soil conditions, local economic goals). These differences can be noted in the basins of north-western Upper Hungary: the Árva Basin (Namesto Basin), open towards the north, was known as Barley Land, while the more sheltered Alsókubin Basin lying some 40 km to its south was characterised by wheat fields. Trade between the larger regions was for many centuries based on the bread wheat surplus of the Great Hungarian Plain - a vigorous trade can be noted between the plainland and Royal Hungary even during the Ottoman period - and it is an entirely different question that the difficulties encountered in transportation led to unrealistic price to value ratios in the grain trade. When speaking of the conditions of production, we do so from the perspective of both scarcity and of different qualities, while the diversity of the natural environment was coupled with the many different forms of human farming activities. (The cereals trade was no doubt also influenced by annual yields, as well as by the varying success of human activities.) Differences were also generated by social status (wealth) and the nature of feudal obligations before 1848. In the 18th century, the spread of more intensive cereal production was coupled with the use of animals for threshing, a practice reflecting the "duality" of Hungarian agriculture; however, a quantitative and qualitative change in the cereals trade only took place after the large-scale river regulations freed additional land for cultivation and generated structural changes in agricultural production and the spread of railway transportation. The study discusses how the cereals trade between larger regions affected the society and culture of the peasants participating is this trade, and how it moulded the social groups which had geared their life to handle this trade already during the age of feudalism. Gyula Viga 393