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SYMPOSIUM PHOTO INTERPRETATION, DELFT 1962 
Photo R.A.F. Archives Top. Service 
Fig. 1. Aerial photograph of the Katem region, elevation 200 to 460 m. The shifting 
cultivation areas are visible on the mountain slopes 
(Manual of Photographic Interpretation. 1960. Chapter 11). However, these 
mostly concern the agricultural systems in well-developed countries. Many 
surveyors also know of applications in underdeveloped regions, e.g. the fact 
that some scattered gardens in the middle of the jungle, visible on aerial photo 
graphs, can indicate the presence of a soil type which is different from the 
surrounding areas where those occupations cannot be detected. In this paper 
attention will be drawn to the use of aerial photographs in dealing with 
shifting cultivation patterns. 
To restrict this very wide subject (see: Nye and Greenland, The Soil under 
Shifting Cultivation, 1960), only systems occurring in the tropical rain forest 
will be discussed, particularly those in the regions which are not over-culti 
vated. These over-cultivated areas are very easily recognizable on aerial photo 
graphs due to the lack of secondary forest. Nor will the really nomadic systems 
be taken into account, where the tribes, or mostly one family, move from one 
place to another, cultivating their crops - if they do so at all - on sites chosen