Cronon begins his book through the eyes of Thoreau as he reads William Wood’s book, New England’s Prospect, and compares Wood’s New England to the New England of the 1800’s. Through Wood’s writing Thoreau comments on the decrease in flora and fauna in the region that occurred over a century and address the romanticized view of New England. Cronon then hints at the rise of materialism in New England by analysing naming of natural elements by the first settlers. Materials which provided economic value were given specific names, while the remaining biomass was given generic, non descript nomenclatures. The notion that all detrimental environmental changes in New England where caused by the europeans was challenged by the revelation that instead of find a terra nova …show more content…
When Europeans first began exploring New England they brought back tales of an abundance of natural resources which resulted in settlers believing that minimal work was needed to survive. The idea of merchantable commodities was introduced further signifying the materialistic shift from Indian to European dominant. The Indians were also observed to be lazy, and yet were still able to survive, which further misinformed the settlers of life in New England. Starvation levels were much higher in settler populations than in Indian populations as the settlers had not yet realized the amount of work and effort required to survive. There is a notable difference between the Northern New England and Southern New England Indians. Northern Indians were tradition hunter gathers and had a much lower population concentration isolated to mostly permanent settlements. Southern Indians were mainly agricultural, had a much higher population density, and altered their environment through the use of controlled fires; which ultimately forced them to be more mobile as firewood stocks were
The New England and the Southern colonial settlements were united in several areas that created the opportunity for each group of colonies to grow. However, these groups of colonies took divergent paths when it came to the founders’ motives to settle the New World, the importance of religious and social orientation, economic approaches and political developments. These different approaches were ultimately successful beyond the early founders’ expectations.
The Chesapeake and New England regions were settled by people of English descent, but by 1700, they had become two distinctly different societies. They had evolved so differently, mainly because of the way that the settlers followed their religion, their way of conducting politics and demographics in the colonies. Even though the settlers came from the same homeland: England, each group had its own reasons for coming to the New World and different ideas planned for the colonies.
In the 17th century, the British colonies still identified themselves as European, but as the colonies expanded and grew more populous, they developed differing geographic, social, and economic systems. This difference between New England, and Chesapeake, is caused by the motivations for settlement between the two regions. While the New England colonies were mainly settled for religious motivations, most notably by the Puritans, the Chesapeake colonies were settled for economic prosperity. Also, while the Chesapeake colonies were mainly settled by individual young men seeking a profit, the New England colonies were settled by families hoping to settle and expand.
In the essay, “Boston and New York in the Eighteenth Century” by author Pauline Maier describes the duties and personalities to the American colonial cities and what made New York and Boston so exclusive and distinctive from one another by the point of the eighteenth century. Maier comes to an end of the cities that are being observed and concentrated functions of the Boston and New York were the local capitals and important to the cultural centers of newspapers and pamphlets being advertised, deliberated, and delivered. In the seventeenth century, the Boston merchants had encountered with their colony’s Puritan leaders to separate Massachusetts from the Old World contamination to verify the demands of commerce. New York and Boston have their differences not only in the people or legislation, but the feelings and character that surrounded culture. They did a request of the characteristics of how they establish and continue over the time also their effects in the American history.
In his journal, Thoreau muses upon twenty years of changes in New England’s land and beasts. He lists the differences in plants and animals, comparing them to past accounts and descriptions. He questions if the growing human presence has resulted in “a maimed and imperfect nature.” Cronon believes that this is an important question to consider. He points out that although changes do happen in nature, it is not so easy to determine how they changed. He is also not sure if Thoreau’s description of “a maimed and imperfect nature” is the correct way to refer to ecology, since it is by its essence, a fluid system of changes and reactions. Cronon does not deny the impact of
The New England, Middle and Southern colonies were all English ruled, but yet very different. Among their distinctions, was the geography which played an important role in shaping these colonies. New England attracted Puritan farmers who wanted to separate from the Catholic Church. But because of the bone dry soil in the North, these colonists found they couldn't continue with their traditional ways of farming. However, with the immense amounts of water that surrounded them, they found that they could fish and trade. The Middle colonies on the other, hand had a moderate amount of everything. The fertile soil and the major seaports such as Philadelphia and New York, allowed these Middle colonists to make a living any way they saw fit. This led to the brisk development of the Middle Seaboard . Unlike the Middle and Northern colonies, the Southern colonies had large amounts of fertile land allowing for the development of large plantations. Because farming the plantations was the economic thrust for the South, towns and cities developed slowly. Thusly Geography greatly affected the lifestyles of these regions in the New World.
During the 1700's, people in the American colonies lived in very distinctive societies. While some colonists led hard lives, others were healthy and prosperous. The two groups who showed these differences were the colonists of the New England and Chesapeake Bay areas. The differentiating characteristics among the Chesapeake and New England colonies developed due to economy, religion, and motives for colonial expansion. The colonists of the New England area possessed a very happy and healthy life. This high way of living was due in part to better farming, a healthier environment, and a high rate of production because of more factories. The colonists of the Chesapeake Bay region, on the other hand, led harder lives compared to that of the colonists of New England. The Chesapeake Bay had an unhealthy environment, bad eating diets, and intolerable labor.
Since it was easier to grow grain and livestock in the Mid-Atlantic region, there was a diverse group of farmers, fishermen, and merchants who worked in those colonies. The environmental conditions were ideal for farms of various sizes and the Middle colonists could trade in market areas where the colonial regions met. Although a lot of money could be made by growing tobacco (in Maryland especially) and other cash crops, they were bad for the soil and people needed more land. However, this resulted in a newfound lack of labor, which was an issue. For instance, families procreated too slowly, there was a high infant mortality rate, African slaves cost too much, and, according to the colonists, Native Americans didn’t make good slaves. Eventually white indentured servants from Europe were recruited to work on plantations, but it was a difficult life for them- even after they were freed they continued to earn low wages. This high demand of cash crops in Maryland and other Middle colonies led to an overall decline in the wellness of the
While both the people of the New England region and of the Chesapeake region descended from the same English origin, by 1700 both regions had traveled in two diverse directions. Since both of these groups were beset with issues that were unique to their regions and due to their exposure to different circumstances, each was forced to rethink and reconstruct their societies. As a result, the differences in the motivation, geography, and government in the New England and Chesapeake regions caused great divergence in the development of each.
The Native Americans of the southeast live in a variety of environments. The environments range from the southern Appalachian Mountains, to the Mississippi River valley, to the Louisiana and Alabama swamps, and the Florida wetlands. These environments were bountiful with various species of plant and animal life, enabling the Native American peoples to flourish. “Most of the Native Americans adopted large-scale agriculture after 900 A.D, and some also developed large towns and highly centralized social and political structures.” In the first half of the 1600s Europeans encountered these native peoples. Both cultures encountered new plants, animals, and diseases. However, the Indians received more diseases compared to the few new diseases to the Europeans. The new diseases resulted in a massive loss of Native Americans, including the Southeast Indians which had never encountered the new diseases. Three of the main tribes in the southeast were the Cherokee and the Creek. They were part of a group of southeast tribes that were removed from their lands. These tribes later became known as “The Five Civilized Tribes because of their progress and achievements.”
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.
It was a difficult life for the first colonists; they had limited labor and were constantly raided by Native Americans. Colonists tried to use the Native Americans as a source of slavery. Most of the colonist’s farms were in forest areas so Native Americans would just leave in to the woods. Colonists were afraid of pressuring them from the fear of getting ambushed by gangs of Native Americans. Another reason Native American men made bad slaves was because the women in the tribes did the agricultural work in the Native American villages.
The Chesapeake and New England attracted different types of settlers and, by 1700, the populations differed enormously.
Most people are familiar with what the Europeans did, but many are not aware of what the European adopted from the natives. The Tribal Indians affected many of the daily life rituals of the Europeans were affected by the natives from language, government, literature, recreation, medicine, hygiene, and food. Because of the benefits the Europeans gain from the Natives Americans the Europeans camps and settlements were able to prosper and grow. A side affected by the growth of the Europeans settlements is the resistance of the Native Americans who are forced to move again, deeper into the American wilderness; this changed their population size and where settlements began. Much of the culture of the Native Americans has been lost forever due to the influence of the
When thinking about the transcendental period and/or about individuals reaching out and submerging themselves in nature, Henry David Thoreau and his book, Walden, are the first things that come to mind. Unknown to many, there are plenty of people who have braved the environment and called it their home during the past twenty years, for example: Chris McCandless and Richard Proenneke. Before diving into who the “modern Thoreaus” are, one must venture back and explore the footprint created by Henry Thoreau.