Changes in the Land
by William Cronon, copyright 1983
Europeans sought to give their New England landscape a new purposefulness, often by simplifying its seemingly chaotic tangle.
The relationships of the New England Indians to their environment revolved around the wheel of the seasons.
To take advantage of the land's diversity Indian villages had to be mobile.
By 1800 the Indians and colonists had decimated many of the animals whose abundance had most astonished early European visitors to New England.
Deforestation was one of the most sweeping transformations wrought by European settlement in New England.
Written by Historian and Ecologist William Cronon it is very interesting in describing New England from 1600 to 1800. Changes include Indians replaced by Europeans, plants, animals, farming, fences, and village living.
