"Changes in the Land"

Paper Summary:

In "Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England", Walter Cronon uses his historical and ecological expertise to cover the changes in New England's plant and animal communities taking place from the transformation from Indian to European life. It explains that the book shows how the interaction among the Indians, Europeans and the land transformed the New England forever.

From the Paper:

"Cronon concludes on a bleak note. By 1800, New England was far different than the land the earliest European visitors had described. The Indians were reduced to a small fraction of their former numbers and forced on to less and less usable agricultural lands. Large areas in southern New England were now devoid of animals that previously were common, such as beaver, deer, bear, turkey and wolf. Instead, hordes of European grazing animals placed a heavy burden on the plants and soils. Hundreds of miles of fences, weeds and alien grasses crisscrossed the landscape. Forests still exceeded the cleared land, but, especially near settled areas, remaining forests were significantly altered by grazing, burning, and cutting (159)."

More papers on "Changes in the Land":

• Analytical Essay # 8589 : "In the Land of God and Man"
• Analytical Essay # 134056 : "The Land Use Trend of Urban Sprawl"
• Analytical Essay # 59778 : "I Am Not One of Those Who Left the Land"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: