ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Temporal and Spatial Evolution of Agricultural
Facilities in Heihe River Basin Since Han Dynasty
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1
School of History and Culture, Lanzhou University
2
School of Geomatics, Anhui University of Science and Technology
3
School of International Studies, Sichuan University
Submission date: 2023-11-04
Final revision date: 2024-01-26
Acceptance date: 2024-02-07
Online publication date: 2024-06-17
Publication date: 2024-07-25
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(6):6209-6227
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ABSTRACT
In this paper, geography, history, and geographic information methods were comprehensively used to
analyze the spatial and temporal changes of agricultural land, irrigation canals, water sources, and water
conservancy facilities since the Han Dynasty in China based on remote sensing images, historical atlases,
and word record materials. The results showed that agricultural land was mainly distributed in the upper
reaches of the river basin and the southeast region. It rapidly increased from 614.32 km2 to 6396.54 km2
from the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty to the People’s Republic of China, while the length of irrigation
canals increased from 2051.78km to 3267.69km in this period. The total length of the water source
remained unchanged from the Han Dynasty to the Republic of China, but increased from 2350km in the
Qing Dynasty to 2514km in the People’s Republic of China. Moreover, there were 12 water conservancy
facility points in the Qing Dynasty, but only 3 facility points in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties.
We found that agricultural facilities in the Heihe River basin were mainly comprehensively influenced
by natural and social economic factors. Temperature, precipitation, and water resources were the natural
background elements of agricultural development and played a key role, while policy, military war, and
population migration were important factors effecting the changes in agricultural facilities.