Ecological Imperialism in New England
Abstract:
In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in “the New World” and marked the beginnings of its extensive colonization. When European settlers arrived in the Americas, they brought with them their cultural values and began to adapt American land to their needs. Those days started ecological imperialism; “wilderness” of the Indian nature was disturbed. European settlers intervened the setting and brought significant changes in flora and fauna as well as the habitual way of living of Native Americans. This paper reveals the long-term consequences of English ecological imperialism in New England and ecological changes brought by European settlers. The main reason for the ecological changes laid in the cultural differences between the Indians and Europeans who came from the capitalist society based on high levels of production and money and perception of the land as the tool of production. The analysis rests on the William Cronon’s monograph Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England.
Key words: New England, ecological imperialism, William Cronon, monograph, the Indians, colonists
The arrival of European colonists in Americas brought to the land significant ecological changes, which reasons laid in the beginnings of capitalism. The cultural differences between Europeans and Native Americans resulted in the transformations of flora and fauna of the setting. This paper aims to discuss the long-term consequences of English ecological imperialism in New England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on the basis of William Cronon’s monograph Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England.
As Cronon writes, European settlement transformed “wilderness” of American lands into their agricultural settlement. The main difference between the Indians and Europeans laid in the understandings of property and resources and attitude towards money. Quoting Sahlins, Cronon states, “Wants may be ‘easily satisfied’ either by producing much or desiring little.” While Native Americans took the second view, colonists preferred to follow the first one, and their use of resources and ambition to transform them into money had an impact on the environment. First of all, Europeans had a need for the building of towns and lands for livestock breeding. The Indians had used the practice of deforestation long before the days of colonization, but Europeans propelled it to the next level and used more often and at large scales. According to Cronon, massive deforestation led to the reduction of several animal and plant species, stronger temperature fluctuations, faster melting of snow, and erratic soils. Moreover, the condition of soils became worse because of the cattle. English animals needed the place to grace on, furthermore, sometimes run away, and, as far as they largely concentrated on specific territories, their weight hardened the soils and reduced the number of interstices with oxygen making the soils less productive. The cattle were the new issue for the Indians and brought them several problems. Before the arrival of European settlers, the Indians had easily hunted in the forests, as they had the specific understanding of property: the animal’s carcass belonged to those who had killed it. However, the cattle had originally belonged to Europeans who ranched them, and the Indians who found the runaway European animal were forced to keep it alive and to return; as the result, they were forced to “adopt fencing as farming strategy.” Brought by Europeans plants and weeds also negatively influenced the habitual flora of the Americas, as grew too fast and eliminated some old species.
According to Cronon, “New England ecology was transformed as the region became integrated into the emerging capitalist economy of the North Atlantic.” With the increase of the English dominance, the village system of agriculture, hunt, and gathering was replaced with the agriculture based on crops, domestic animals, established property boundaries, and commercial markets. The role of resources as commodities and potential capital negatively influenced “wilderness” of Native American lands; however, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were just the beginning of the ecological transformation.
Bibliography
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, 1983.
