The New World, in the minds and descriptions of European explorers and settlers during the sixteenth century, was comparable to a paradise on earth. The landscape was so vast and indescribably beautiful that even Columbus had trouble articulating its splendor. However, lacking a consciousness of conservation, Europeans felt little remorse in exploiting the land and subjugating its people. From the beginning Europeans set out to transform as much of the New World into the Old World as possible. As a result, the New World, over the course of two centuries, was overtaken by foreign plant and animal species, leveled by deforestation, and devastated by disease. This imposition of Old World values significantly impacted the ecology of the New World.
One of the main reasons that Europeans were so successful in increasing their numbers in the New World was their ability to distribute and grow native plants in areas where they previously had been unknown (Crosby, 66). Also, many Europeans made large profits from cultivating native plants such as tobacco, cocoa, paprika, American cotton, and sassafras (Crosby, 66). Despite these successes with native plants, true ecological effects of European expansion on the New World during the age of discovery is not revealed unless focus is placed on the large numbers of non native plants that were introduced by European explorers and settlers. The subsequent introduction of European plants brought an end to the unique plant cultures that had existed for thousands of years prior to the discovery of the New World.
The expansion of European plants into the New World commenced with Columbus's second voyage (Crosby, 67). Columbus loaded his seventeen ship fleet with seeds and crop-producing fruits ...
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...uring the age of discovery, it is that environments and ecosystems are fragile and can be easily altered with devastating results. Therefore, as humans continue to discover exciting new worlds, either in the darkest depths of the ocean or on the surface of a strange new planet, it is important that we as humans consider the ecological impacts that may result from those discoveries.
Works Cited
Crosby, A. (1986). Ecological imperialism the biological expansion of Europe. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Crosby, A. (1967). The Columbian exchange. Westport, Conn: Duke University Press.
Cronon, W. (1983). Changes in the land. New York, NY: Hill and Wang.
Roberts, N. (1989). The Holocene: an environmental history. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Cowley, G. (1991). "The great disease migration." Newsweek, special edition, 54-56.
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.
From 1670 to 1770, the New World was colonized by different racial groups from Europe who lived together heterogeneously which led the New World to become “modern” and uniquely “American”. In 1670, many Europeans, like the Dutch, French, Irish, Scottish, English and German colonists, came to the New World either to break away from European traditions or to fulfill their desire for adventure. Butler wrote that the colonists all lived heterogeneously and brought their own cultures and religions to the New World to create diversity, which helped contribute America to become “modern”.
Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips had not traveled west across the Atlantic. Some of the New World crops that hav...
When Europeans first came to the New World in the late 16th century they were entering new territory and had no idea what to expect. Their views on everything from geographic, politics, climate, to diet, etc. where about to change, and their need for survival would hopefully outweigh these challenges. Only small parts of this new world had ever been explored over the past century, and what information the new settlers had was lacking. The new settlers had assumed the climate would be like that of Europe in the New World and that the weather would be similar and their crops would grow like they did back home. But that was not the case, as they came to find out the summers were hot and the winters were harsh, and many of there crops did not grow. They also believed the New World to be largely uninhabited, as the Indians did not live like they did back home in permanent villages and towns, but rather off the land traveling, as they needed.
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
A significant factor in the transformation of the land of the New World was trading and hunting. Before Europeans arrived, the natives had manipulated the land themselves to create herds of buffalo and other animals for food, clothing, and other resources. After European colonization, the hunting and trade systems of both groups of people changed. The natives acquired guns and hors...
Tobacco did not just appear in colonial America. The tobacco plant was introduced by John Rolfe to the people of Jamestown (Nobleman 12). John Rolfe also taught the colonists how to farm tobacco (Tunis 77). Though tobacco cultivation seemed to be flourishing, consumers were still getting their tobacco from the Spanish Indies, as the Spanish Indies grew milder tobacco than America (Weeks 1). This motivated John Rolfe to sail to the Spanish Indies and confiscate some of their tobacco seeds ("The Growth of the Tobacco " 2). The tobacco from the Spanish Indies boosted the economic growth of colonial America (2). However, John Rolfe was not the first person to have tobacco in the new world. The Native Americans were the first people to cultivate and smoke tobacco and taught their trade to the Spanish (1). The ...
NAFTA's promoters promised 200,000 new jobs per year for the U.S., higher wages in Mexico and a growing U.S. trade surplus with Mexico, environmental clean-up and improved health along the border. The reality of the post-NAFTA surge in imports from Mexico has resulted in an $14.7 billion trade deficit with Mexico for 1998. By adding the Mexican trade deficit to the deficit with Canada, the overall U.S. NAFTA trade deficit for the year 1998 is $33.2 billion dollars. In the last five years we have gone from a pre-NAFTA trade surplus of $4.6 billion with Mexico to a $14.7 billion deficit. Using the Department of Commerce trade data in the formula used by NAFTA proponents to predict job gains, the real accumulated NAFTA trade deficit would translate into over four hundred thousand U.S. jobs lost.
Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism The Biological Expansion of Europe 900-1900. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
When the Europeans explored the Americas, they were introduced to new plants, foods, and animals, as well as riches and land. Foods such as corn, white and sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes, cacao, fruits, peppers, peanuts, sugar cane, and tobacco were many of the new foods enjoyed by Europeans. Some animals such as wild turkeys, llamas, and alpacas, were brought back to Europe. Native American Indians traded furs with the Europeans, which were luxury items throughout Europe. The discovery of lands rich in gold, silver, and other treasures prompted the conquistadors to launch expeditions to the Americas, while reports of newly discovered lands abundant in resources, lured many other Europeans to the Americas in search of a new and better life.
...d exports but have lost their government subsidies, which effectively negates the gains from increased exports. There are many benefits of NAFTA, which are increased employment, raised national income, higher productivity, and lower consumer prices. The negative effects are increased pollution, loss of U.S. jobs, and unfair treatment and unsafe conditions for Mexican workers. The benefits definitely outweigh the negative effects in the long run because improved economies will raise the standard of living and promote better overall economic growth in all of North America.
The Case Against Free Trade: GATT, NAFTA, and the Globalization of Corporate Power (An Earth Island Press Book). (1993). California: North Atlantic Books.
Until the 1960’s, attitudes toward prostitution were based on the Judeo-Christian view of immortality. Researchers have recently attempted to separate moral issues from the reality of prostitution. The rationale for its continued illegal status in the U.S. rests on three assumptions: prostitution is responsible for much ancillary crime; and prostitution is the cause of an increase in sexually transmittted disease. These assumptions are now the question.
Opponents argue that, prostitution has health effects and that is the reason as to why it remains illegal in most parts of the United States. Prostitution has social economic, physical, and a number of mental implications. The prostitutes and their clients are subject to a nu...
...d as well? Even if everything is an illusion, it still achieves the same ultimate goal. After all, if people did happen to come to know absolutes truths, they would likely be unable to understand it or even realize what it is. Perhaps then, it is possible that the search for truth is the wrong way to go about achieving happiness and goodness – if those terms have absolute qualities at all. The case may simply be that acting in accordance with the nature of humanity is the way to true contentment, and that the only truth is that humanity lives in a world build solely on a subjective reality, and rhetoric and language are just part of that nature.