- Critchfield, J. Howard. 1954. “The Growth of Pastoralism in Southland, New Zealand.” Economic Geography. Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 283-300. Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
- Abstract
Southland, New Zealand, is the southernmost region of intensive commercial agriculture in the world. The distinctiveness and unity of the region arise largely from the nature of the pastoral economy in this most isolated portion of an isolated nation. In the time of Māoris, before their early contact with white men, Murihiku (Southland) was non-agricultural. Today it is a heavy contributor to New Zealand’s exports of lamb, mutton, wool, and cheese. A variety of factors have been influential in transforming the pre-European landscape of little more than a century ago into the present-day pattern intensive pastoralism. Consideration is given here to the roles of these factors in the evolution of agricultural land use in Southland.