Hunting and Environmental Consciousness in Late Ottoman and Habsburg Herzegovina

Hunters arrived in Ottoman-held Herzegovina from Dalmatia after 1815. With its mild winter, Herzegovina was regarded as unspoiled, full of birds and animals. After the Habsburg occupation in 1878, scientific research, specimen gathering, and the care of urban spaces increased. Paradoxically, at the same time, animals were being hunted, and some were in danger of extinction. Several Habsburg public intellectuals were both defenders of the environment and specimen gatherers or hunters.