The history of mankind in Abruzzo, from the first humans to appear on Mount Maiella (about 700,000 years ago) to the Industrial Revolution. The aim is to show the ethnic and cultural development of the region and the reasons for its conti-nuation into the twentieth century.The cultural development of the rural population was profoundly influenced by the difficult mountainous terrain which imposed a mainly sheep-raising economy, charaaerized by winter transhumance, or the driving of flocks to warmer grazing areas in the cold weather. This practice lasted for about four thousand years.
