Changes Throughout The Land : Indians, Colonists And The Ecology Of New England Essay

The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.

In Changes in the Land, William Cronon points out the European colonists` pursuits of a capitalistic market and the impact it had on the New England ecosystem. Native Americans and colonists had different views on the use of land resources. The Natives viewed the land as something not owned, but as a resource to sustain life. They believe in a hunting-gathering system, hunting only when necessary. In the long run Native Americans lost their old traditions and were forced to adapt to the colonists` traditions in order to survive. This change contributed even more to the alteration of the ecosystem during the colonization period. In contrast, colonists viewed the

As English settlers arrived in the Chesapeake and then New England in the seventeenth century, they disembarked their boats and marveled at the seeming abundance of the landscape. They arrived with hopes of recreating their “old world” and prospering from the merchantable commodities that were lying before them. However, English colonization did not occur in a vacuum, and the settlers soon discovered that their survival would be dependent upon a forged coexistence with the native inhabitants. Surrounded by Indian worlds, the colonists established unique regional identities, with the south becoming dependent upon the cultivation of tobacco and the use of slave labor, and the north establishing subsistence family farms and developing a commercial economy. This capitalist system eventually reshaped the colonies, leading to continued expansion that transformed the American landscape, destroyed the delicate intercultural diplomacy with the natives, and cemented territorial distinctions – creating “new worlds for all.”

The possesion of land has proved to greatly amplify and draw out several different stereotypes and conflicts between societies in the world 's history. From Many different accounts all over the world today there has always been a dispute over land. However other disputes shadow in that of the colonial New England settlers and the Native Americans, both virtually revolving their lives around this concept of land distribution. For the settlers it meant wealth and prosperity, for the natives it meant staying alive. William Cronon 's book, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, illustrates the differences between these two separate societies and describes what life was like during the period of exploration and settlement in the New World. There are several other facts or opinions that one could take away from this passage, but the three main points are differences in the Colonist and Native conceptions of property, as well as how cultural stereotypes and eventual conflict emerged from mutual understanding of the land and use of property by each group.

Throughout New England Colony life they have very strict rules and will not tolerate bad behavior. There so strict in fact they have a man called the tithingman, the tithingman whacks people in the head if there asleep in church and he tickles the females. If the children are misbehaving then the tithingman punishes them to, if this keeps going on the tithing man will find their parents and whack or tickle them to (how embarrassing). The New england colonies practiced slavery throughout the 17th century.

This paper offers an inside look at how the New England and the mid-Atlantic colonies lived, out of the thirteen that settled, the different events that led to their upbringing, religious identities, and their day to day lifestyles. Rather, if it was a small difference that the colonist who lived in the same region were not living the same way their neighbor was, it may have also taken generations for the colonist to get things up and running, but along the way they learn what is needed to make their new living situation work.

There is a famous quote by John Maxwell, where he said “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional”. Changes occur everywhere around us and it is how we adapt to those changes defines how we grow as a community causing further change to the environment. John Cronon, the author of Changes in the Land, writes about the interactions between the environment and its people. People are not the sole cause of ecological change. Some ecological change is also caused by natural events such as climate changes, floods, forest fires, and even drought. But these events do not drastically change the ecosystem as the changes brought by the interactions of Native Americans and Europeans with the environment. Changes caused by people such as Native Americans and English colonists affects the environment and results in a change in the environment where, now the people have to adapt to change in the environment.

The New England Colonies had a strong economy due to it's location and ability to trade by ships. Ship building was also a very huge part of the economy. Lumber from nearby forests was used to create large ships that would only be sold in England or Britain. There were also many craftspeople who contributed greatly to the economy by owning small businesses. Some of the crafts included blacksmiths, shoemakers.

Although the colonial history of New England has been thoroughly researched and taught across all levels of educational institutes across the United States, the study of its environmental history often takes a backseat to America’s complex and enthralling social and political history. This trend has been abating in recent decades, given that more Americans have taken an interest in their environment and conservation, and in response to this new demand the field of environmental history was initiated by historians like William Cronon, who explores the changes in the New England environment under the stewardship of Native Americans and European colonist in Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Cronon’s work

In “Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England”, William Cronan breaks down the changes in New England that occurred after the shift from Indian to European dominance. In the first chapter of the book, Cronan goes into detail about the ecological history of New England. This detail expands on the changes that plant and wildlife population encountered during this shift from Indian to European life. As the shift occurred it created changes in the way those inhabitants live their lives, but it also created changes in plant production and wildlife. Cronan introduces us to his argument by stating that the physical affects that were created are from the Indian and European peoples due to agriculture, hunting, establishments,

The New England region and the Southern colonies developed into three distinct societies by the 1700’s. New England is generally considered to include the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. While the Southern Colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Colonial America regions, each had different motives entirely different from the others. Moreover, religion and religious tolerance was completely different in each region. Geography structured each region which then created their own identity and developed differently due to different lands. Throughout the colonization of Colonial America, motives, geography, and political structure developed distinctions in the

In his book, Changes in the Land, William Cronon goes on to explain European expansion into North America soil, and the changes that occur not just to these Europeans, but the Native Americans inhabiting North America. Cronon focuses on an ecological standpoint, describing the altering animal and plant life as changed by the colonists of Europe. Cronon also goes into detail on the power shift from Native Americans having all of North America alone, to having little to none, decreasing by the second as European settlers expand more and more westward.

Cronon’s book Changes in land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England is an intricate ecological history of the environment of New England between the sixteenth and nineteenth century. It describes the environment in New England before the arrival of the Europeans and subsequently after their arrival. The book is easy to read and gives accurate information on the lives of the native Indian communities that lived in the land. It also explains how the Europeans found the land when they first arrived. In contrast to previous preconceptions, New England was not the unspoiled and pristine wilderness. The Native Americans had shaped the land long before the arrival of the Europeans. In his preface page, Cronon stated his thesis:” the shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes – well known to historians- in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it is also involved fundamental reorganizations- less well known to historians- in the region’s plant and animal communities.”(Cronon, Preface pg. VII).

Ecosystem is constantly associated with a particular combination of climatic characteristics. (Walter 1968). The patterns of rainfall are changing and temperatures are rising. These, together with other factors are already being felt by both the human and the natural communities. Human are not only the receptors of climate change, but also they drive the process of the change. Humankind, as a driver of global environmental change, has degraded land, caused desertification, deforestation, changed the use of land to suite his purpose, depleted the ozone layer, and caused air pollution among other ways. Majority of these factors have worked synergistically, thereby, compounding the effects on the environment.

an ecosystem is a thriving of biotic and abiotic features in a region that interact with each other. or simply, an ecosystem is where animals and plants live in harmony with their surroundings. for a while now there have been issues with the care given to ecosystems and the ways in which countries deal with threats to them. we hear about the extinction of many a kind of fauna and flora and how their absence disorientates the equilibrium in many ecosystems and at the same time we also know about people and organizations that strive to help build and maintain them. in the following we shall look at how one can juggle focusing on the building of an ecosystem and sustaining the local population, how nations worldwide are contributing to the welfare of forests and the ways in which induviguals can give to the growth of an ecosystem.