HI 440 Lecture 5: Environmental History Lecture 5
Changes in the Land (Discussion)
This book allows us to see that there are profound cultural elements at work in New England.
The way people see themselves, their success and their future are determined by these elements.
Indians
● Indians were mobile and used what was present in the landscape in every season
● Their relationship to agricultural fields were “gardens” as they were cleared patches in a
large field
○ Low intensity, mobile, could abandon easily to return their land to forest
● Property was defined as labor and one’s own work
○ Ex: If you killed a deer, that deer is yours
● Paint the English as foolish and wasteful
Europeans
● Europeans stayed put and tried to cultivate the land as it was through pastures and
grazing
● Cleared space for farms, too, but they were invested in their cleared land in ways Indians
were not
○ Wanted to get as much as they could from the field
○ Dependent upon crop rotation with things like peas
● Property was defined as territory, enforced by fences/enclosures, and transformed the
landscape through justifying it as theirs
○ By the English standards, these enclosures were successful and made them better
off in New England than they were in Old England
● Paint the Indians with lack of stewardship
Manufacturing and Incorporating Nature
Note: New England is moving towards living in cities and working towards industrial jobs
New York City
● By 1850, there is a 750% increase in population from 1800, so one must consider the
consequences for such a large growth
○ People still need to eat and drink and they provide waste, so Americans became
obsessed to improvements in technology and way of life
● Improvements in infrastructure were taken on by local and individual enterprise
● The Erie Canal was created as the key to transportation and internal improvements
○ Rivers were the greatest highways until the 1830’s or so
○ Was a “friction free highway” that could be connected to the Great Lakes
○ Allowed a larger market for goods
○ Made the grid Thomas Jefferson suggested easier
● Water-borne disease killed millions, and the solution to this was water improvements
○ Aqueducts → The Croton Dam revolutionizes New Yorker’s lives by
improving the quality and quantity of water in the city
○ Required millions of dollars to pay for these improvements
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
This book allows us to see that there are profound cultural elements at work in new england. The way people see themselves, their success and their future are determined by these elements. Indians were mobile and used what was present in the landscape in every season. Their relationship to agricultural fields were gardens as they were cleared patches in a large field. Low intensity, mobile, could abandon easily to return their land to forest. Property was defined as labor and one"s own work. Ex: if you killed a deer, that deer is yours. Paint the english as foolish and wasteful. Europeans stayed put and tried to cultivate the land as it was through pastures and grazing. Cleared space for farms, too, but they were invested in their cleared land in ways indians were not. Wanted to get as much as they could from the field. Dependent upon crop rotation with things like peas.
