HOW THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIST ALTERED THE ENVIORNMENT

A detailed Summary of HOW THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIST ALTERED THE ENVIORNMENT

How the New England Colonists` Altered the New England Environment

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 land as capitalistic market in which they used more of the land resources without taking into consideration that one day they would run out of resources.

Before the colonists arrived in New England land resources were in abundance.

The only ones to use these resources were the Natives, but the type of resources they used where divided in regions. Northern Indians lived entirely as hunter-gatherers, while the Indians south of the Kennebec River raised crops. (p.38) Even though the Indians

In Changes in the land, we see how populations of Natives and the environment have gone through a drastic change. The introduction of a capitalistic market increased the value of furs and animal skins that caused deer, moose and beaver populations to decrease in a short time period. Cutting down trees led to drastic weather changes on the land; the weather suddenly began damaging the land. Rainfall caused rivers to flood and causing snow to freeze and harden the land. Domestic animals began to bring Old World sicknesses to New England that caused the Indians sickness and eventually caused death. This lead to the decrease of the Indian population in a short time period. As we see colonization had a drastic affect in the ecosystem that helps us understand why things are as they are, this helps us to understand and think about how our actions may affect us in the long run.

As more and more colonists came to New England they began to see things that no longer existed in their mother country, such as an abundance of trees and unused rich land. The colonists viewed Indians as idiots who did not take advantage of the rich land they had. Colonists tended to promote New England as best as possible in order to increase the amount of colonists who immigrated to the New World. (p.34) This caused over population that forced the colonists to cut down forests in order to make more room for new homes and also to get more supplies of wood to build their homes. The clearing of the forest had consequences; weather conditions that did not damage the land now began to have great affects on it. The clearing of the trees made the land become dry right after a big storm due to the lack trees that kept the land moist. Creeks and rivers no longer formed because of overexposure to sunlight. The wind also began to have a great affect in the land. The trees that once stopped the dry wind from hitting the ground and damaging it were no longer there to prevent this. Due to this, the land began to loose its richness in fertility; became dry and hard making it more difficult to harvest.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Northern Indians, March Indians, Native Americans, Southern Indians, March June, Kennebec River, Cronon European, land resources, capitalistic market, northern indians, domestic animals, changes land, rich land colonists, resources natives, caused indians, native plants, viewed land, market increased,

Approximate Word count = 1407
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics