GG102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 34: Environmental History, Gilgit-Baltistan, Historical Geography
Document Summary
A common romantic myth is that north america was a pristine environment almost untouched by human influence before the arrival of european settlers. Geographers have studied the historical geography and environmental history of the north american continent prior to. European domination and found that the indigenous population had considerable impact on the environment - much of it of the kind that we would call detrimental today. Among the most dramatic impacts is the widespread use of fire that changed the species composition of forest and prairie. In fact, some scholars even go as far as to suggest that the prairies are not a natural ecosystem, but were created by native use of fire. 79-80), the foremost historian of fire, writes that: Most of the impenetrable woods encountered by explorers were in bogs or swamps from which fire was excluded; naturally drained landscape was nearly everywhere burned. Conversely, almost wherever the european went, forests followed.
