The impact of natural hazards on settlement processes in high mountain habitats is discussed in view of montane settlement frontiers and their relationship to population growth in Third World societies. Mountain habitats tend to expand into peripheral regions where safety measures compete with the demand for additional living and dwelling space. In case studies from the Hindukush and Karakoram the range of natural hazards is documented and classified. An evaluation of historical evidence from records and oral traditions shows the impact of natural hazards on settlements and their destruction of man-made infrastructure. Two valley societies have been selected to present different forms of settlement processes. Both stand for specific settlement structures in the study area of the Inner Asian high mountain arc. The establishment of irrigation oases and their sustainable cultivation is limited to protected areas of finite extent. Processes which are characterized by historico-political and socio-economic conditions execute a Systems control on the utilization of these narrow niches in differentiated valley bottoms and connected adaptation strategies. On the one hand their exist valley societies that are composed of a long-established nuclear population. In those societies hereditary rule and traditional institutions hold a strong position. The agricultural potential of these regions has been cultivated and meliorated to a high degree; population growth is rather steady. On the other hand there remain developable regions that have been the peripheries of principalities or local institutions. These virgin or underutilized areas represent prominent targets for migrants in search of grazing and cultivable lands. Presently they resemble a heterogeneous population structure. Valleys and villages are characterized by extraordinary high population growth rates. All valley societies within the study area suffer from agricultural production deficits, thus increasing the dependence on external supplies from lowland regions.
