guiraute de haut
The place
guiraute de haut ("Upper Cirque", Gascon name) in the Landes department, Mimizan/Bias area (Pays de Born, Landes, France), at 44 m elevation, Landes pine forest. Continuous France Landes/Atlantic cluster (batches 220-347). Forest cabin of a resin-tapper (surname "guiraute", Gascon for "cirque", a small damp basin beneath the pines), in an area of maritime pine Pinus pinaster forest (1 M ha, Europe's largest forest monoculture, planted 1857 under Napoleon III to fix the dunes, drain the marshes and stop the deadly malaria that killed 40,000 in the region in the 18th century) and the Atlantic Ocean (240 km of forested coastline from Cordouan to Bidart, 250,000 hectares of the longest continuous beaches in Europe), home to the heritage of the Landais people and the resin tappers (resin harvesting 1900-1960, 100,000 jobs, then Chinese-Vietnamese labour 1960-1990 before the trade ended for good with the rise of plastics).
The setting
Landes Mimizan/Bias Pays de Born Landes France 44 m Landes pine forest, continuous cluster batches 220-347, resin-tapper's cabin guiraute Gascon cirque damp basin, Pinus pinaster maritime pine 1 M ha Europe's largest monoculture 1857 Napoleon III dune fixation drainage malaria 18th c. 40,000 deaths, Atlantic coast 240 km Cordouan-Bidart 250,000 ha longest beaches in Europe, resin tappers 1900-1960 100,000 jobs then Chinese-Vietnamese labour 1960-1990 end with plastics.
