Cronon argues that we should not attribute the shift from Native to European dominance in early New England solely to complex changes taking place in a social, political, and economic sphere. To these factors, we must add the region's ecology. Cronon employs the well-known framework of Native American and European contact in New England while carefully weaving in intricate relations between humans as they interacted with their environments. Ultimately, the ability to put a price on nature produced catastrophic effects on N/A populations. In building his argument, Cronon sets out to examine the ways in which Native Americans and New Englanders viewed and used their habitats, and how they changed their views and use of the land, pre- and post-European contact.
Sub-arguments/Themes:
Fires (edge habitats) - Native Americans used fire to clear areas, eliminate bugs, create areas where animals they hunted would thrive, at times as part of a military strategy. As use of fire increases, so too does the climate change (hotter or colder, snow melts faster, ground doesn’t hold water and runs off quickly).
Mobility - Moving from place to place seasonally allowed for plant and animal life to rebuild itself
Population Control - New England Native Americans kept their populations to a manageable amount, not over-procreating in order to keep their populations mobile.
Surplus - Something that didn't particularly enter into Native American life until products had been commoditized--after which time many people imported goods (including food staples) in exchange for hunting
War - Among Native peoples often due to conflicts over territory to produce commodities to exchange for European goods.
Property - Different conceptions of property were in place; Native people granted specific permissions for using the land, while British colonizers assumed they had ownership.
Commoditization - Well-known cases are beaver pelts, but others are interesting, too. The case of pot ash - required lots of burning, so as soon as pot ash had a price on it, so too was there much more incentive for burning.
Wood - White pine - used for masts (allowed to thrive because of burning - prior to this, European masts were composite); Hickory - fuel; cedar - roofing and fences.
Fenced in areas - forced on (especially Native) farmers because they prevented pigs/livestock from eating up people's crops.
Scope: 1620-1800
Geography: New England
Significance: Jumpstarts field of environmental history. Looks at native fires as useful. Explores the roles of pigs. Examines how Native Americans and Europeans viewed property.
Question Brainstorm:
How can I use this in the future?
What does later scholarship look like that builds on this?