ISLSCP II Historical Croplands Cover, 1700-1992

The most recent estimates are derived from satellite measurements, and are available in a spatially-explicit fashion for roughly the last 30 years. The other estimate is based on ground-based sources such as census statistics, land surveys, estimates by historical geographers, etc. These land inventory data are only available at the scale of political units, but have the advantage of being historical.

Ramankutty and Foley (1998) derived a spatially-explicit data set of croplands in 1992 by synthesizing remotely-sensed land cover data with contemporary land inventory data. Furthermore, Ramankutty and Foley (1999) extended this data set into the past (back to 1700) using historical land inventory data. The data set should only be used for continental-to-global scale analysis and modeling.

The data set captures the broad patterns of cropland change over history, but not necessarily the fine details at local to regional scales - please check the data quality before using it at fine spatial scales. The quality of historical data for the Russian Federation is poor. The quality of data prior to 1850 is poor -- only continental-scale historical data were used for that period.