Ecological impact of colonial Americans before 1877

An ecological impact is defined as the effect of human and natural activities on the living and non-living environment. Before the rise of the Industrial revolution, the peoples of the newly colonized continent caused many ecological impacts on the New World’s land. Some of the most significant impacts were deforestation, the introduction of new virus pathogens and diseases, and the introduction of new fauna and flora to mimic the homelands of England.
Prior to colonial contact, Native Americans affected the growth of certain trees and the fertility of the grasslands using frequent burning practices. This would later become quite beneficial for arriving colonists who encountered many fertile regions to build on. When European colonists began to settle around the 1700s, they brought over their own images of how the new land should be shaped, not having much perspective on the impact they were going to cause on the new ecosystems, themselves and on the native peoples.
Differing ways of living
A lack of perspective on how the environment is affected by human contact can lead to unsustainable resources and unhealthy living conditions. A major environmental historian, William Cronon, wrote, “The choice is not between two landscapes, one with and one without a human influence; it is between two ways of living, two ways of belonging to an ecosystem.” Cronon was stating the contrast of how the colonials viewed the ecosystem and how the Native Americans viewed the ecosystem. The Native Americans used their burning practices to provide a range of habitats which benefited both the natives and the fauna and flora of the region. This also made it easier for the Native Americans to gather certain nuts and created an environment which would promote more deer to the area so they could hunt them. The colonials' view of the ecosystem was that it was to be modified for grazing and agricultural purposes. This promoted a more monocultural landscape, which decreased the diversity of the ecosystem. Colonists also believed that people could own the land, which brought about great contrast between the Natives' views of the land. The Native Americans did not believe that one could own the landscape; the soil, the trees or the water. Therefore, when the colonists arrived it became easier for them to take or buy land from the Natives, because they did not understand this concept of owning land.
Use of fire
Prior to colonial contact, Native Americans practiced burning methods for forestry and grassland maintenance. In the Northeast, native tribes that dated back to about 10,000 years ago lived near maritime environments where there was a rich source of resources to support their settlements . Yet to support their rapidly growing population, they began to utilize the forest, especially in southern New England, for forestry practices involving the use of fire . The purpose of selective burning practices for the Native Americans was to burn any brush and thickets underlying the forest and other unwanted non-fire resistant trees. John Smith recorded in his journal that in southern New England, “the chiefe woode is oke,” (oak) -a fire resistance taxon. The use of fire for the native’s forestry practices made it easier for the natives to hunt and gather and use selected species such as the oaks for building purposes. This was not an unsustainable practice because both the natural and the natives’ practices in burning kept the vegetation at a constant state of flux. The Native American tribes that used fire tended to burn in the late spring just before new growth appears, this promoted good fertility in the soil which the vegetation needed to grow. This practice helped to sustain growing populations. They would burn on a yearly basis or every other year or in intervals of five. Studies revealed fires occurring about every 10 years until 1701 when the area was settled by Europeans. These practices proved to be very beneficial to the newly arrived colonists with a rich supply of fertile resources.
Colonial expansion
The Colonial period left a major impact on the northeast. Other than wood being the primary resource for the colonials to build up their settlements, religious views influenced how the environment was treated by the new settlers. Famous colonists, John Winthrop, Cotton Mather and Michael Wigglesworth were interested in “carving Jerusalem out of a “waste and howling wilderness”. “Carving Jerusalem,” meant cleansing the land and converting it by religious right. This dictated the promise of a new life, a new world that they had the freedom to tame or to “civilize.” Cotton Mathers preached of the Native Americans as being the followers of Satan and the wilderness as there harbor of evil doings. This also helped the colonist justify their expansion by also getting rid of the Native Americans along with the “uncivilized”, “evil breeding” grounds. According to our forefathers, men should convert “unimproved” nature into “developed” civilization”. This suggested that the colonist had a patriotic duty to clear the uncivilized and unknown aspects of this new world. The New England colonists specifically, saw themselves as “Christ Army” or “Soldiers of Christ” in a war against the wilderness. The uncivilized land and people supposedly held the colonist back from expansion of their ‘empire’ per se.
By the mid-19th century, deforestation in the northeast had reached its maximum, when two-thirds of Connecticut itself was open and cleared. Wood was being used for building and firewood along with clearing the way for expansion of the colonists’ newly established ‘civilized’ world. With the rise of the agricultural revolution, much more land was cleared for cultivation. As early as 1659, deforestation in New London, Connecticut, after 13 years of being settled, was so intense that cutting was prohibited within four miles of the meeting house. Many ecological factors followed the deforesting of the land. In the Adirondacks, there was a massive decline in the hemlock population because they were being harvested for their bark. Later this was found to be correlated with an increase in forest fires in the area. The impacts became even more severe when the streams started to dry up and there was an increase in erosion.
Diseases and animals
Deforestation was one of the driving factors towards the rapid spread of infectious diseases. Many human-induced land changes bring about this consequence. The diseases were most prevalent at the time were small pox, yellow fever and malaria. The populations who were most affected by newly introduced disease were the Native Americans. This came about in the context of the newly settled Europeans bringing over new fauna, flora and disease. The natives did not have the immunity that the colonists had to these new infestments. “Far more Native Americans died in bed from Eurasian germs than on the battlefield from European guns and swords. ”The impact was tremendous. The Native American population had declined a near 95 percent a decade or two after Columbus. In the conditions of epidemic disease and intra-European warfare, the conditions for both the colonists and the natives were worsened. Much of the Native American populations were misplaced because of infectious diseases brought over by Europeans.
As part of the European conquest, between 1492 and the early 19th century Europeans sought to replace their sought out lands of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand with the plants, animals and human residence of their native surroundings. This caused much ecological stress on the native populations of their newly conquered lands. The introduced species were of a much more competitive nature than the native species. Many of the exotic plant species thrived off of newly disturbed areas, thus the clearing of land and ditching. Many of the animals brought over carried diseases, and plants carried over aggressive insects. Scholars have suggested that the pigs or their offspring brought over might have introduced anthrax, brucellosis, trichinosis, and other diseases into the South. This had the potential for absolute catastrophe for the native populations of plant, animal and native human residence. Yet livestock had little immediate effect on the area. Colonist and natives were forced to adapt to these rapidly changing environments.
With the introduction of new technologies and domesticated animals the land became much easier to manipulate and change. In a literal sense, known by colonists, they knew that clearing the land for their own prosperity was possible. Yet, what they did not intentionally bring was other aspects that would make their influence on the land more to their advantage. For buffalo were replaced by cattle, wheat for buffalo grass, gold miners for grizzly bears, and native fauna replaced with domestic or more competitive species including the human population itself. A large percentage of both living and non-living aspects converted over to a neo-European landscape.
Effects
Colonialisms’ effect on the landscape of North America was highly dramatic. The depopulation of the native people, the introduction of exotic flora and fauna to the region, technologies, and ideas of transforming the landscape are all factors in which caused great upheaval to the ecosystems the colonists impacted. Many of the native species were misplaced by the new, more competitive species brought in by the colonials. Along with the introduction of new species came new diseases and viruses that livestock would bring with them. The ecosystem was vulnerable to invasion whether it is a new competitive species, human population, and habitat destruction. The introduction of new diseases misplaced a high percentage of the Native Americans, yet the colonists were also very much affected by the spread of disease. Diseases such as small pox , measles, influenza, typhus, yellow fever and malaria were the major diseases and viruses that impacted almost everyone due to the vulnerability of the environment. In 1837, the Mandan Indian tribe, who were a very culturally diverse and developed Great Plains tribe, was wiped out within weeks by a smallpox epidemic contracted by a steamboat traveling up the Missouri River from St. Louis. Though the Native Americans had their own ecological impact to the land, their impact benefitted the ecosystem more than negativity impacting it. The colonials' views and aspiration toward land use converged with the Native Americans practices, as well as the convergence of views of the land creating impacts to the environment which are still affecting the lands of North America today. The years after 1877, would follow with more consequences and impacts beyond the colonists' foresight. Yet, the colonists were making a life for themselves the only way they knew how, by shaping it like their homelands.

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