An inverse counter argument could be implanted to the effects of over fishing in the New Foundland area. One could argue that limiting affects of fishing created a healthy way avoid reaching carrying capacities of multiple populations within the vicinity. This could be one point of view however nature is in equilibrium when at its natural population, and the fishing practices of European Nations forced the fish populations to dangerously below ecological equilibrium (Richter 2001). Notably the Europeans did not share the same sense of environmental awareness as the Native Americans. Once voyages to North America became profitable, European nations looked to capitalize in any way possible. The nations really had to sell the idea of starting a new life from scratch thousands of miles away to their constituents. This was not easy as the voyage in it of itself could be deadly, not to mention the only thing guaranteed in return was an allocation of land and a chance at earning large sums of money. The difficult nature of recruitment often led to deliberately bias accounts of North American lands (Cronon 1983). The bias accounts often amounted to over hyping the abundance of resources in the mysterious “New World.” Not only did this lead to ultimately more colonizers making the voyage, but it also influenced their mindset and interactions with the natural world upon their arrival. The influence of bias accounts led to environmentally disconnected practices. In addition the
European exploration, in its entirety, is a complex subject with many causes and effects. In the attempt to break away from their previous home, colonists experienced a novel mixing of a variety of life, people plants and animals included. Africans, Europeans, and Indians all became acquainted in a new medley of a society. Each group, all with a unique cultural background, found a common identity as Americans due to the many new encounters and new neighbors. This was the beginning of the melting pot America is today. With “profit-seeking and soul-seeking” as the motive, Europeans concentrated the many cultures in young America.
In the wake of Europe’s Age of Exploration, explorers roamed different parts of the ocean in search of a faster water route to Asia. Along the way, Europeans explorers discovered a whole new continent, America. Thinking that he was in India, Christopher Columbus, an Italian sailor, called the indigenous Native Americans he met “Indians,” a misnomer that is still used frequently even up to this day. Europeans soon shifted their attention away from the water route to Asia but toward the colonization of the New World. With a desire to have a new life different from that of the Old World, many Europeans landed on the shores of the new continent and settled in communities. However, almost all kinds of European colonization faced this
"The Colonization of North America." In Modern History Sourcebook. April 1999- [cited 17 September 2002] Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall.mod/modsbook.html., http://curry.eduschool.virginia.edu.
American history frequently centers on the issues of ethnic diversity and resource allocation. In the contemporary, we begin to see the experiences of the Native inhabitants of the Americas in contrast to European settlers and colonizers, is a prime example of this process in motion. When European settlers first arrived to the New World in the 15th century, firstly the Spanish, they brought with them a material cultural based upon an economic standard of resource exploitation, which in a sense was hostile to most of the Native peoples of the Americas. For instance, as Blackhawk notes that, Europeans built permanent settlements consisting of immovable structures, whereas many of the Great Basin peoples were semi-migratory in nature. Additionally, as Europeans claimed possession over the land, its resources, and began a process of territorial delimitation, Native peoples whose lives
Additionally, Royal gives clarification for Native Americans’ positive stereotypes. He explains, “ But this is far from modern concepts of ecology. Native Americans in fact overhunted deer and beaver even before the arrival of the white man, and did not seriously try to preserve the resources in the vicinity of their villages. As a result, the typical woodland village, having exhausted local soil and game, had to move on average every eight to 10 years” (Royal 47). Although the Native Americans did not destroy the environment like Europeans on such a large scale, they are not trying to protect the environment either. This opposes the stereotypes that Native Americans are model ecologists. Royal also examines the inhumane sides of Native American tribes. Royal reveals, “The
In the “New World” Native Americans lived contently following their daily routines and cultures. They had lived and learned to appreciate the Earth and the aspects of nature that it has to offer. Back in Europe, Columbus wanted to find a shorter voyage to India, but instead he landed in the West Indies and committed inhumane atrocities. Columbus
As the encroachment of settlers on Indian lands continued, so did the inevitable conflicts. "To the Indians, the arriving Europeans seemed attuned to another world; they appeared oblivious to the rhythms and spirits of nature" (Jordan, 1991). Nature to the Europeans was something of an obstacle, even an enemy, and these disrespectful attitudes were quite apparent to the Indians. The wilderness was also a commodity however: "a forest was so many board feet of timber, a beaver colony so many pelts, a herd of buffalo so many hides" (Jordan, 1991). The Europeans' cultural arrogance and ethnocentrism, and their materialistic view of the land and its inhabitants were repulsive to the Indians. "Europeans, overall, were regarded as something mechanical - soulless creatures wielding diabolically ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish selfish ends" (Jordan, 1991).
Many people are under a false impression that early Native Americans are the original environmentalists. This is an impression that many people share. The Abenaki tribes that resided in Maine from 3700 BP were not by our traditional definition, environmentalists. In fact they were far from ecologically sound. This paper is meant not to criticize the Native Americans of the age, but to clarify their roles in the environment. To better understand this subject some background is needed.
The Native Americans would offer the Europeans almost everything they had, which included fish and turkey to bread and the companionship of the chief’s daughter. The Europeans mistook the Native American’s generosity as evidence they were childlike. The old land in Columbus’ time was luscious and full of many different types of wildlife. Today that land is used and farmed down to provide food and tools for the Americans living here in the United States. “The land they left is different now. The white pines that towered over New England became masts for the Royal Navy's sailing ships. The redwoods that stretched from the Rockies to the Pacific exist in pockets smaller than the Indians' shrunken reservations. The hours long thunder of bison hooves no longer shakes Kansas or Nebraska, where only a few stretches of grassland remain on the prairie (pg. 6 Lord,
During the early exploring of the American continent in the 1500s and 1600s, the New World seemed to be untouched land only inhabited by native, primitive people. It was believed to be the literal Garden Eden, a world without human sins, and the perfect balance between humans and nature. However, when the English first started to settle along the East coast, the reality of this New World appeared to not be as perfect and utopic as they thought: Attacks and conflicts between the natives and settlers, the lack of civilization, and dangerous winter conditions surfaced. Nevertheless, for many settlers, the new land was promising and gave those a chance who were unable to live a happy life in Europe.
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
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.
Closely followed by Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World in 1492 were the establishments of European colonies with the French primarily in the north and down the Mississippi, and with the British along the east coast. As a result, the Native Americans’ lives changed drastically. Before 1750, in terms of economically, French responded mutually in terms of economy, culturally befriended them and in terms of religion, responded benignly by encouraging Catholicism through missionaries and on were on the best terms with the Natives; the British by contrast, economically
The Age of Exploration contains both benefits and harms to the groups of people, animals, and land that is associated. The damaging effects of the Age of Exploration were directed, for the most part, upon the people and land of the New World. With the treasure and innovation brought by Europeans in their ships were the
In modern America, we often take for granted the natural world that surrounds us and the American culture which is built upon it. For many of us, we give little thought to the food sources that sustain and natural habitats that surround us because when viewed for what they are, most people assume that they have “simply existed” since the country was founded. However, the documentary ‘America Before Columbus’ provided this writer an extremely interesting record of how the America we know came to exist. In the documentary, one of the most interesting discussions centered on the fact that it was not merely the arrival of conquistadors and colonists that irrevocably changed the landscape of the Americas, but that it was also the coined term known as the “Columbian Exchange” that afforded these travelers the ability to proliferate so successfully. The basic definition of the Columbian exchange is one that defines the importation of European flora and fauna. It could also loosely represent other imports, both intended and unintended, such as tools, implements, and even disease. Armed with this definition, it takes little imagination to envision how differently the Americas might have developed had any significant amount of the native European flora, fauna, or other unintended import not been conveyed to the Americas through the Columbian Exchange. Beyond the arrival of explorers, settlers, and colonists to the New World, the breadth of what the Columbian Exchange represented to