"The America's before and after 1492;" and "The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492"

"The America's before and after 1492," By Karl Butzer (Sep. 1992); and "The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492," By William M. Denevan, (Sep. 1992)
Both from Annals


Butzer Synopsis: Both articles written to celebrate 500th anniversary of Columbus's encounter with the New World, and both are designed to dispel the myth that the New World was a pristine land when Columbus reached it. Native Americans of course did alter the environment and utilize many different methods of agriculture. Also, Euro diseases wiped out about 90% of Native population, paving the way for a totally new colonial landscape. However, there is not much evidence of European land damage prior to the 1700s, and says that Euros actually did have a history of agricultural conservation. Therefore, we should really be asking when and why Euros gave up their more conservationist techniques. Essentially, this article is a review of many works that ask us to question long-held assumptions about the condition of North American land before and after Euro contact.


Denevan Synopsis: Indians of course did alter the landscape, but "the landscape of 1750 was more 'pristine' (less humanized) than that of 1492" due to the demise of Indian populations from Euro diseases, etc (370). The hemisphere-wide Indian population was probably only 30% of what it was in 1492. Furthermore, most Euro descriptions of the land didn't occur until 1750-1850, at which time the environment had had a chance to "recover" and grow back - appearing "pristine." Environments are always in flux; change comes and goes and new environments are imposed upon "pristine" landscapes.


Interacts With: Cronon

The Making of the American Landscape

The Making of the American Landscape (1990)
Edited by Michael P. Conzen

Synopsis: Tis book is a compilation of essays which survey the American landscape via some major historical forces that have shaped it. It focuses on "themes about clusters of related landscape processes set in a broadly historical and regional framework"(6). Moves chronologically to some degree, but is more thematic. It includes essays on climate and natural features, immigrant and colonist legacies (especially the vast Spanish imprint and the way it has been downplayed), plantations, planning and the grid pattern, forest-clearing, industrialization and urbanization, cars, weather, and vernacular houses (especially the ways in which buildings reflect adaptations to lands and climate, as well as cultural beliefs). The overall argument holding these essays together is loose, but is basically that culture leaves its imprint on the landscape, and thus meaning and a layered cultural history lie all around us.

Interesting Specifics:
[Lots of Steve's Intro to AMS material seems to derive from this].
Chapter 17 on landscapes of the wealthy is interesting.

Interacts With:
Building Suburbia, The Modern Urban Landscape,