William Cronons Changes in the Land Book Review William Cronon sets out to explain why New England habitats changed as they did during the colonial period and how this was all a process of change. His thesis is to portray that the shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes in the regions plant and animal communities. Cronon supports this thesis by providing the reader with contrasts of both the ecosystems and the economies in pre-colonial New England to those at the beginning of the 19th century. From the initial squandering of valuable resources to the ultimate ruin of many areas in New England, the European way of life, including its economy, certainly changed the new land of which it had become a part of. Cronon explains how much the landscape and the environment were radically changed by the arrival of the Europeans. He also argues that the shift from Indian to English domination in New England saw English property systems take control and the dominance of domesticated animals as well. And finally, another argument suggested by Cronon reveals that the Industrial Revolution would transform New England ecology by opening up industries to urban centers and building canals to connect cities.
Cronon’s argument reveals that the change in New England’s landscape and environment was not only brought on by the arrival of the Europeans but also made possible by the active involvement of the Indian people. Cronon introduces the field of environmental history and talks about the evidence he used to put together this book: early travel accounts; colonial town, court, and legislative records; ecological data; and the landscape itself. In addition, he discusses some of the theoretical problems with doing environmental history, which he refers to as ecological history. He makes it clear that he is centrally interested in how Native Americans and Europeans changed the landscape of New England, and how the changes Europeans made forced Native Americans to abandon their earlier ways of interacting with the land. Cronon reveals that the New England landscape during the 1800s was significantly different from what the first Europeans described. He uses Henry David Thoreau as a reference to explain how he also saw changes in the land during the 1800s.
The Essay on Environment And Landscape Land Value Thing
Take-Home Essay The world we live in today is always changing, whether it be technology or the land. As these changes take place, society must adapt to them. Many things begin to change as a result of this and society beings to turn into something completely different. One of the most overlooked changes that takes place is that of the environment and landscape. The landscape is one of the most ...
Animals which were once indigenous to the land are now very rare due to the domesticated animals of the Europeans. Because these domesticated animals were able to adjust and reproduce themselves quickly, they were able to takeover the lands. He also explains certain species of trees which used to be in abundance now grow in short supply because of their attractiveness as a fuel source. In addition to that, the deforestation affected local temperatures in certain regions, altered the soil and caused problems in drainage patterns. Since there were fewer trees there would be a greater chance of flooding every year because there would be no trees to protect the forest grounds. Cronon goes on to discuss the different views of the land as seen by the Indians and the early New England colonists. The New England puritans believed that people who moved so much and worked so little had no right to lay claim to the land they inhabited. Indian villages moved a lot to take advantage of the lands rich variety, all they owned could be packed on their backs and moved to another site. The colonists idea of using the land involved clearing away the wilderness so they could plant crops and raise cattle.
The difference in the way each looked at nature is reflected in the names given to land areas. The Indians used ecological labels to describe how the land could be used. The colonists named sections of land after their homeland. The difference between the Indians and the Europeans was each loved the land in a different way. Even though the Indians used the land differently, they nevertheless possessed it by the right of first occupancy. Colonists rationalized their conquest of New England by refusing to extend the rights of property to the Indians.
The Essay on Native American Indians Land Indian
When the Europeans established colonies in the New World, they sought to convert the Indians way of civilization. Their obsession was to spread Christianity and their culture throughout all of the colonies including the Indian villages. Some Indian people accepted these traditions because they felt as if they had no where else to turn. When the settlers invaded the new land they brought with them ...
They both trivialized the ecology of Indian life and paved the way for destroying it. The Indians of pre-colonial New England subsisted off the land in a migratory fashion. Cronon distinguishes between the Indians of northern New England, who relied almost exclusively on hunting and fishing in response to an often fairly inhospitable climate and those of southern New England, who relied on agriculture for half to two-thirds of their diet. Through the use of small, controlled burning of the forest, movement between different areas of food sources through the year, low population densities (particularly in northern New England), and the use of multi-crop agriculture (including nitrogen-fixing beans) among southern Indians, the impact of the human population on local ecosystems was fairly small and consistent. This impact changed at an accelerating rate upon the arrival of Europeans. To accommodate the greater crop and livestock stores for commerce and safety against harsh winters, the Europeans cleared a large percentage of the local forest and domesticated animals became more of a burden on the local ecosystems. Certainly, the dominance of New England by the English caused a shift in agriculture and earlier village systems. English law forced the Indians to treat and farm their agriculture in a totally different way. Cronon points out that the English property systems prompted the Indians to use their land as commodities.
This persuaded them to sell and change their production towards the commercial marketplace. Cronon explains that the New England agriculture grew because of this process, and the ecology of the region also became a capitalist environment. Therefore, capitalism and environmental ruin went hand in hand. The shift in agriculture brought on by the English can also be caused by the domesticated animals the English brought with them. Cronon illustrates that scores of European grazing animals preyed on the plants and soils, and when that was not enough, more pastures had to be cleared for the animals to feed. Thus, English property rights were imposed upon the Indians in which they had to build fences to separate the animals from the crops so that the animals would not devour the crops.
The Term Paper on King Philips War England Puritans English
American History 19 October 2001 King Philip's War: An Exercise In Failure In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive ...
The extended effect was to force the Indians to adopt fencing as a new farming approach. Fences and livestock were thus crucial elements in the English justification for taking Indian lands. Indeed, the Industrial Revolution changed the New England ecology from being a pristine environment to an unnatural environment. As Cronon illustrates, swamps had to be drained as more and more money was used to improve the agriculture. Many trees were cut down to build new roads and dams were built to flood the lands for irrigation and canals. And so, this caused the destruction of beaver dams and reversed the drying of land.
The development of iron furnaces, especially in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, raised the wood consumption and increased the cutting of trees. In turn, local forests were cut down to be used as fuel in these furnaces. Cronon explains that these industries would prosper in urban centers only and where there would be large populations. And so, Cronons thesis illustrates that the shift from Indian to English dominance required important changes. One of these changes was that the New England landscape transformed radically since the arrival of the Europeans. For example, species of animals which would normally be seen wandering the lands were now no where to be seen in that area, and native grasses were now much too scarce.
Another one of these changes was a switch to the English property system and the domination of domesticated animals. This change required that the Indians adjust their farming methods and build fences to contain their domesticated animals. And finally, the last change was the Industrial Revolution which transformed the New England ecology to an unnatural environment. As the geographer Carl Sauer wrote: Ecological abundance and economic prodigality went hand in hand: the people of plenty were a people of waste. Changes in the Land is a balanced and interesting book, detailing the importance of ecology, both as a dynamic entity, shaped by human action, and as a focus of shaping how populations organize themselves. It got to be difficult to understand at times but only slightly.
The Essay on Change And Variation Of English Lexis
Change and variation of English lexis 1. Introduction The topic under discussion in this paper is about the lexical change and lexical variation. The change and vary of language never stops and it develops with the move of time and space (Zhichang, 2010, p.19 ). I will talk about the lexical change and variation in English lexis from three respects and I will discuss how the knowledge of lexical ...
I think it could have used some illustrations or maps to show the changes he talked about, but other than that it was very informing and insightful..
