Ecological Imperialism

Alfred Crosby's Ecological Imperialism describes the expansion of Europeans across the globe. Crosby explains the relationship between European organisms and the conquest of non native lands, disease, flora, fauna, and animals all play a part in the rapid expansion of the peoples from Europe to the New Worlds. Traditional it is been assumed the outward expansion of the Europeans was due to their superior technology, weapons, or even religion. While these did give them great advantage, it was what they brought with them that sealed the fate of millions of indigenous people, plants and animals.
The advantages that the Europeans had was due in part to where they came from. The break up of Pangaea and continental drift, ensured that areas of the globe would be isolated and have relatively small populations. From the break up of Pangaea until Europeans started sailing across the worlds oceans, the Americas and Australia developed in complete isolation. The Europeans and their Eurasian counter parts also had their Neolithic Revolution long before the indigenous peoples of the New World. And as Crosby states, “The Amerindians and the Aborigines came late to the full Neolithic Revolution, for whatever reasons, and they suffered from it.” This late start put them at a severe disadvantage when the white explorers finally did show up.
The Neolithic Revolution while fantastic did one thing that would change the course of history, it was at its heart the domination of humans over everything else. As the author explains, “ The Old World Neolithic Revolution, for all it's dazzling advantages in metallurgy, the arts, writing, politics, and city life was at its base a matter of direct control and exploitation of many species for the s...

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...ngaea looking for more resources and wealth. The divergent landscapes caused by the break up of Pangaea, were then homogenized by the plants and animals that were brought with theses new explorers. Crosby goes into great and often times overabundant detail as to how and why this spread happened, and where it was successful and where it was not. He makes a clear distinction between colonization and assimilation, colonization in the more temperate zones and assimilation in the more hostile climates such as the tropics. How sometimes those that seek to conquer are often overcome by the very pathogens that ensured their success in other parts of the globe. In the story that is human history we often forget that while we may be the architects of a plan it is often those small things, like pathogens, that are the are the reasons for our successes and failures.