Lejre

Prompt
Based on your visit today to Lejre, summarize the impact that the Danish landscape has on the Danish as a people, and vice versa.

The Danish people have been shaped by the land around them, and have also increasingly shaped that land throughout time. The early settlers of Denmark lived directly within nature, and depended on it for their needs. Nature was also seen as providing religious amenities for the Danish, such as the trees that were perceived as reaching up into the heavens, which consisted of branches that held spirits. These early settlers of the Stone Age, for example, took from their land but it was a sustainable relationship. They were hunter-gatherers who obtained enough to satisfy their needs. They used every part of the animals they hunted, from the meat to the fur. The land remained intact, and they lived their lives within the forests that surrounded them.

During the Iron Age, agriculture was on the rise. The Danish people began to trade and domesticate animals, which grazed on the land. In order to provide land for grazing, the forest had to be cut down. Trees were also removed for the production of crops, which further impacted the environment. This relationship between humans and land is seen in the photos below. Land was dedicated to monoculture, which striped the land of the diverse flora and replaced it with single-use crops. This change in landscape continued through time, and still continues today. Although the landscape in the first photo below is aesthetically pleasing, it is a prime example of monoculture. This plot of land has been devoted to canola plants and nothing more.

Visting Lejre was a beautiful experience for its aesthetics, but also because of its important learning lesson. We must consider how the land has become this way from human interference. The environment plays a large role in our lives, but we must learn how to live in harmony rather than in imbalance.