ABSTRACT
Since Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to the world in mythical times (or similar fire origin stories in other cultural contexts), the use of fire has probably been the most powerful force in changing the landscape throughout history. This not only refers to the role of deliberate burning in the present-day reduction of the tropical rainforest: fire has also been an important element in many western countries, where forest lands were turned to pastures and agricultural land. European countries like Great Britain, Holland and Ireland and probably many others lost almost all their ‘wild’ forests in this process. It was only afterwards and through active replanting and strict protection of areas set aside for ‘nature’ itself that these countries regained some degree of forest cover, though of a domesticated nature, part of which is now being left to grow ‘wild’ again (Buis 1993; Neeson 1991; Rackham 1996). There are only a very few exceptions of societies where traditional forms of agriculture were developed in a forest area without the use of fire (see, for example, Conklin 1961).1
