Reconstructing Indigenous Landscapes: Integrating LiDAR, GIS, and Historical Records to Analyse Landscape Transformation in the Bokoni Region, South Africa

Abstract

Abstract Colonial land reforms strip down Indigenous tenure systems globally, yet the spatial scale of this transformation remains poorly quantified. Southern Africa's Bokoni region offers a critical case study where qualitative research has long argued for intensive pre-colonial farming, but quantitative evidence has been absent. This study integrates LiDAR, GIS, archival surveys, and cadastral records to reconstruct pre-colonial settlement patterns in South Africa's Badfontein Valley and trace their transformation through colonial subdivision. Across ten farms, we identified approximately 1,327 pre-colonial homesteads, a density many times greater than the number of private landowning units during the colonial period. Colonial subdivision produced a significant percentage decrease in land-holding units, demonstrating that pre-colonial occupation was considerably more intensive than previously quantified. Geographically, we document a fundamental shift from slope-based terracing to valley-floor cultivation, supporting arguments that colonial land reform altered not only ownership but also the ecological logic of farming. Archival evidence reveals that tenancy restrictions under the 1913 Land Act, forced removals, and policy directives systematically drove this spatial transformation. Our primary contribution is empirical (a quantified, testable reconstruction of pre-colonial settlement density against which competing historical and archaeological hypotheses can now be evaluated). This integrated spatial-historical approach provides a replicable methodology for understanding long-term landscape transformation.