Dr. Rick Van Noy
ENG 680
September 9, 2000
Facing the Facts About European Settlement and Ecological Devastation in New England:
A Digest of William
Cronon’s Changes in the Land
As mere novices in the study of ecocriticism, we are
attempting to come to terms with the ecological changes that have occurred on
American soil throughout the past four decades, shaping the environment we know
today. In order to reach a true
understanding of nature in literature, we must first consider the historical
implications of ecological change by looking at both the environment and the
people who inhabited it. William
Cronon, in his book, Changes in the Land:
Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, offers a dim but
provocative historical account of the changes wrought by the settling Europeans
in New England. His thesis, in his own
words, is to portray that “the shift from Indian to European dominance in New
England entailed important changes … in the region’s plant and animal
communities” (vii). Cronon proposes to support his thesis by providing the
reader with contrasts of both the ecosystems and the economies in pre-colonial
New England to those at the beginning of the nineteenth century. His inclusion of economy as a “subset of
ecology” forms a strong framework through which the ecological changes of New
England can be more fully understood.
From the initial squandering of valuable resources to the ultimate ruin
of many areas in New England, the European way of life, including its economy,
inevitably changes the “new” land of which it has become a part. Although
Cronon’s thesis sounds simple enough, the book itself leads the reader through
a provocative and sometimes painful process of recognizing the various stages
of European settlement in the new country and the havoc these newcomers caused
in the environment.
Cronon begins his historical account with a discussion of Thoreau’s
work, Walden, and how the portrayal
of nature within this work reflects the changes that had actually occurred in
the ecological systems of New England.
His use of Thoreau’s spiritual frame of reference provides an overview,
or perhaps an introduction, to his factual accounts of these ecological
changes. As the reader progresses
through the book, he cannot help but be confronted by the moral issues provoked
by the actions of the Europeans, thus reinforcing Thoreau’s stance that
“squalidness may consist with civilization” (Thoreau 35). The environment that Thoreau writes about is
a by-product of the civilization brought about by Europeans, and Cronon’s
presentation of both cultural and ecological changes in New England provides a
true ecocritical understanding of Thoreau’s work.
By including his resources for his study, as well as their
limitations, Cronon strengthens his support for his thesis. Although much of the evidence he uses can be
viewed as unreliable and / or biased, he seems to maintain the integrity of the
historical events that led to the profound ecological changes in the
environment. His evidence includes
personal accounts of travelers and early naturalists, legal records, ancient
stands of timber, and mere microscopic changes. Part of the unreliability of the evidence rests in the fact that
Europeans often applied their own names to American species. Another problem in his study is that some
ecological changes were not solely caused by the arriving Europeans. The
ecology inevitably would have changed, but the actions of the Europeans
directed the course of these changes.
Cronon is able to present a seemingly unbiased and powerful account,
even with the disadvantage of unreliable evidence. He justifies his need to utilize cultural effects on the
environment in his words, “The choice is not between two landscapes, one with
and one without a human influence; it is between two human ways of living, two
ways of belonging to an ecosystem” (12).
The actions of the settlers are inseparable from the changes in the
environment, even if certain changes would have occurred in their absence.
The most profound changes in the ecological system of New
England, as discussed by Cronon, were caused by the contrasting view that the
Europeans had of the land and its inhabitants.
Whereas the Indians had learned to utilize their environment simply for
the things that they needed to survive, Europeans viewed the newly found
abundance of trees, wildlife, and fish as commodities to be traded amongst
themselves and with England. Cronon views this as the start of capitalism in
the “new” world. The unfortunate
results of this economic perception of nature included the near extinction of
many species of wildlife, deforestation, and soil exhaustion. Cronon also
presents other contrasts between the Indian and European ways of life that lead
to drastic ecological changes. Because
the Indians moved according to the seasons and when their planting grounds were
no longer fertile, the Europeans looked upon them as being “lazy” and wasteful
with the land. According to the
Europeans, the Indians had no right to own the land because they were not
“improving” it through fertilization and were not “settled” and storing supplies. This European conceptualization later led to
their justification of taking over lands previously occupied by the
Indians. Cronon voices this contrast
and its effects: “The struggle was over two ways of living and using the
seasons of the year, and it expressed itself in how two peoples conceived of
property, wealth, and boundaries on the landscape” (53). Another contrast between the Indian and
European interactions with their environment, as presented by Cronon, was their
actual perceptions of land ownership.
Where Indians viewed ownership as the right to “use the land,” the
Europeans maintained their right to actually own the land, thus creating
man-made boundaries on land that was previously designated by natural
landmarks. Because boundaries created
the concept of “trespassing,” Indians were forced to live on smaller and
smaller pieces of land, in addition to the fact that they could not hunt on
English land. Inevitably, the Indians were forced to change their entire
lifestyle. Although some changes may
have occurred in the ecological systems of New England, even in the absence of
the Europeans, the effects of these early capitalistic endeavors are
unmistakable.
In addition to the economic bases for ecological change,
Cronon also cites the introduction of disease as an important contributor. Biologically, the Indians were completely
unprepared for the epidemics that ravaged their villages; they had always been
a healthy people, and thus mothers did not have the antibodies to give to their
children. Cronon traces the ecological
changes related to disease through the interruption of the Indians’ normal way
of life. When many Indians in a village
became sick, others fled, interrupting their crop harvest, causing hunger and
more chance for disease. This savage
cycle also had its effects in the ecosystem – the land began to change due to
the lack of burning that the Indians normally performed to ready the land. Again, Cronon forces the reader to accept
the fact that although changes in the environment may have occurred eventually in
the absence of European influence, there is no doubt that these settlers were
dangerous catalysts.
In the final chapters of Changes
in the Land, Cronon discusses the ecological changes that occurred after
the Europeans had settled in their new communities. He presents deforestation and soil exhaustion as two of the most
tragic consequences of the implementation of the European way of life. Instead of burning forests to remove
undergrowth, as the Indians did, the settlers burned entire forests to clear
land for cultivation. Cronon discusses
the drastic ecological changes this deforestation eventually caused: the soil became warmer and dryer;
temperatures fluctuated more widely; the wind was stronger and more readily
felt; streams dried up or ran into larger rivers, causing flooding; water that
had previously evaporated from the tree leaves fell to the ground, causing
swamps and insect problems; and eventually, the seasons themselves changed due
to the snow melting earlier in the year. In addition to the devastating effects
of deforestation, Cronon presents the
Europeans’ use of the plow for agriculture, as well as their introduction of
livestock, as responsible for serious changes in the soil of New England. Plowing affected the soil at much deeper
levels than ever before, thus changing it forever. The grazing of livestock eliminated native grasses, which led to
a complete ecological change involving both the types of grass that prospered
and new weeds that abounded.
Ironically, the weeds introduced by the Europeans became responsible for
the “blast” which destroyed a great deal of New Englanders’ crops. As Cronon states, “A European weed, in other
words, had brought with it a European disease that made it exceedingly
difficult for European farmers, keeping European animals, to raise key European
crop” (155). Cronon’s words serve as a
valuable encapsulation of the process of European settlement. Whether intentional or not, the Europeans
had changed the ecological system of New England, not only for the Indians, but
also for themselves.
Cronon concludes Changes
in the Land with a recapitulation of the ecological changes wrought in New
England during its settlement by the Europeans, and also a restatement of the
important role the beginning of capitalism in this “new” world played in these
changes. He posits that, by 1800, the
Indian way of life had become impossible to practice, and that many Indians
began to adopt a more European way of life.
After traveling the journey of historical and ecological “progression”
through New England, the reader cannot
help but make a final connection with Thoreau’s Walden. In Thoreau’s words,
“Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect,
and sacrifice the greater to the less.
They love the soil which makes their graves, but have no sympathy with
the spirit which may still animate their clay.
Patriotism is a maggot in their heads” (321). Though much more factual than Thoreau, Cronon has made a powerful
statement to this same effect in Changes
in the Land. In their blind desire
to perpetuate their way of life, Europeans inadvertently caused the destruction
of that which they valued. In doing so,
they also nearly destroyed a spiritual and self-respecting nation of
people. To many, these actions could
indeed be interpreted as sacrificing the “greater to the less.”
Cronon, William. Changes
in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New
England.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1983.
Thoreau, Henry D. Walden. Ed. J. Lyndon Shanley. New Jersey:
Princeton University
Press, 1971.