In this paper, I will answer the following question: Compare and contrast the impacts of the New England Colonists and New England Natives on that region's ecosystem. Explain the cultural, social and economic factors that account for the different impacts the two groups had on the land.

For starters I would like to state that I really enjoyed reading this book. I found the facts and stories presented in the book to be very interesting and honest. I believe the author did a great job of looking at both perspectives and presented the information in a fair and concise manner. From my experiences growing up, a lot of the information presented in this book is rarely taught in the classroom. From what I can remember growing up, the emphasis is placed on Christopher Columbus and the other Europeans arriving at the New World and their trials and tribulations they experience here. Never is anything taught about how the Native Americans feel about this and how their way of living is affected by the new settlers. I am a graduate student in the Education field with the hopes of one day becoming a Social Studies/Psychology teacher and this is relevant information t

Socially, each group placed women at a different level. European women spent a lot of their time sewing clothing, gardening, spinning and weaving textiles, caring for children, and making butter and cheese. Native American women took care of almost everything in their families and tribes. Men would go hunting and then it would be the woman's responsibility to clean the animal, process it, and make whatever hides was necessary. The women would spend the majority of their time in the fields gathering food but yet still be responsible for raising the children. Many Europeans thought that Native American men treated their wives like slaves while the Native American men thought that the European men didn't work their wives hard enough. The Europeans also thought that the Native American men didn't use their time and energy appropriately. Native American men used a lot of their time hunting, fishing, and burning the woods, all of which the Europeans didn't look too highly upon. They saw that more as a leisure activity and not as work. Between the two groups there was a lot of criticism for the work or lack of work done.

The first specific change in the ecosystem I would like to discuss is deforestation. When the European settlers arrived and prior to their arrival, deforestation occurred for many reasons. When the European settlers arrived, they would clear the land to be able to establish homes and to be able to grow food. The tress that they cut down would be used to build homes for the new settlers. They also sold the timber and chips to earn money. Wood was very expensive in Europe so they would send back wood chips and timber to be sold at a very high price. The deforestation at this time caused many problems. For starters, many fields experienced water run-off and droughts. There wasn't anything to keep the water in the fields so a drought would occur. Also the deforestation of New England caused the climate to drastically change. The New England area experienced different temperature extremes. In the winter it was very cold because they were not trees to block the snow from falling to the ground and nothing to block the bitter, cold, wind. During the summer time, there were no trees to give shade from the hot, burning, sun. The deforestation also caused a loss of habitat. Animals that lived i

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Approximate Word count = 1559
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)