Changes In The Land William Cronon Summary

Kate Hohfeler
Burton
United States History
23 September 2015

William Cronon’s book, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England identifies, examines and explains the ecological history and changes that took place in New England between the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, and how it affected the future of the region. In the first part of the book, Looking Backward, Cronon highlights the works of Henry David Thoreau and William Wood. In Wood’s piece of work, he recounts his 1633 journey to New England and paints a literary picture of the scene; In Thoreau’s piece of work, Walden he is considering his Concord home and the ways in which it may have been altered. Cronon explains that the ecological

Cronon’s final conclusion and overarching theme in Changes in the Land was that the ecological alterations made between the 1600’s and 1800’s were directly related to European settlement. I agree with the conclusion made by Cronon because Cronon conveys through his book that the European colonists were greatly motivated by money and used the land as if there was a “limitless availability” (Cronon 169). The land in New England in the eyes of the colonists was simply “a form of capital” (Cronon 169), a way to make a profit leading them to overuse the resources, greatly altering the ecology and depleting resources. The majority of the information in Changes in the Land, and our textbook, Experiencing History: Interpreting America’s Past are equivalent, but it is rather evident that the information is conveyed through different lenses. The lens of Changes in the Land focuses on the Indians and how “their ability to move about the landscape” (Cronon 159), had been “severely constrained” by the actions of the Europeans, and how their life was affected by the settlement. The lens of Experiencing History: Interpreting America’s Past is one that speaks greatly of the Europeans and their life and their struggles and their point of view. This is specifically evident when the textbook speaks of “communities in conflict” (page 89), and how it spotlights the issues pertaining to the colonists. Another area where the textbook and Changes in the Land don’t align is the portrayal of the settlers and the way that they view and act on the land of New England. In our textbook, Experiencing History, the settlers are portrayed as people whom, “established most of their settlements with an eye to stability and order” (page 89). However, in Changes in the Land,