The North east region stretches from the shores of Atlantic to the Mississippi valley and the great lakes to the south of Cumberland River in Tennessee. There were several native tribes in this region, but the main ones were the Iroquois and Algonquian tribes. These tribes depended on each other for trade for a very long time, but also spent considerable time as enemies fighting each other 1 . These tribes depended on crop farming, fishing and hunting as the main economic activities. They cleared forest to plant crops and also used lumber to make tools and build homes. Crop farming was primarily done by women while in fishing and hunting activities were reserved for men.
The most interesting aspect is the matrilineal social structure of the Iroquois group implying that once a couple is married, the man shifts and becomes part of women’s family. Therefore, after marriage, a man is not considered a part of his birth family. This social structure is unique to this tribe and appeared odd to early European settlers. These tribes build and lived in two housing style; the Wigwams and Longhouses. The wigwam houses were built using woven mats and birch barks covered with poles and were appropriate for people living in one place for a few months. Longhouses were large houses containing several rooms and were appropriate for families that lived on the same spot for a long period. The region has several weather patterns and clothing pattern depended on the seasons. During warm weather, men wore skirt clothes with no shirt whereas and women used to put on skirts and leggings with tops. Both men and women put on fur parkas during cold weather season.
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The Concept of Pristine Wilderness
The concept of pristine wilderness was invented in 19 th century by romanticists and primitivist scholars such a Parkman, Longfellow, Cooper and Hudson. This concept has since become part of the American heritage associated with preservation of natural environment. Wilderness is a natural area that has not been significantly destructed by man’s activities such as grazing, farming and habitation. It is simply an intact and undisturbed wild area of the planet; a truly wild area that has not been modified and controlled by humans and also without developments such as pipelines, roads and industrial infrastructure 2 . However, there are some wild areas where natural processes are operating without interference from humankind.
The concept of pristine wilderness as applied to North American meant that the natives were part of the nature and did not cause any destruction on the land. It was claimed by Europeans that North America was expansive area covered by grass and teemed with wild games. It was also claimed that most parts of North America were sparsely populated and human activities such as farming and grazing were very limited to cause interference with natural process. In simple terms, the early Europeans claimed that much of North America including areas such as the Amazon rain forest and south America was untouched Eden by the human activities. Therefore, North America region was considered the pristine of wilderness by Europeans who arrived in this area with intention of subduing and cultivating the wilderness.
Argument against the Pristine of Wilderness
The activities of the tribes of North east region such as Iroquois and Algonquian disprove the theory that natives lived in perfect harmony with nature. A growing number of archaeologists and anthropologists have faulted the early European’s branding of North America as the pristine of wilderness 3 . Often times, the natives of North America rarely engaged in sustainable management of natural resources and never used them in sound ecological way.
There were many human activities that destructed the natural environment of North America before the arrival of early Europeans. The native tribes of this region including the Iroquois and Algonquian had transformed large swaths of the land to meet their agricultural needs. Erosion and degradation of land was evident due to the large size of native population, deforestation and intensive cultivation of land for farming.
The size of native population is very critical in this argument. It was established that North America was well populated prior to the arrival of early Europeans. This is contrary to European’s assertion that America was a sparsely populated land. There is a direct relationship between population density and destruction of natural environment. Therefore, natural environment was adversely affected by the native population of North America before the arrival of Early Europeans.
Vegetation is another factor to consider in this argument. It was established that several natural forests such as the Midwest, the New England, the Amazon and Southeast had been altered to varying degree of intensity by human activities. Cultivation of land for farming and burning had reduced a significant part of the forest into fallow and grassy openings. Even though much of the forest remained, they were not vast, unbroken, silent and impenetrable tangle of trees. The burning of forest by native tribes resulted in open forest with small meadows as well as sun and fire tolerant species 4 . Fire was frequently used to create a favorable condition for growth of blackberries, strawberries and other gatherable foods for native people.
Conclusion
This paper has discussed the concept of pristine wilderness in relation to North America prior to European occupation. It is clear that native Indians living in Northeast part of the continent engaged in various activities that contributed to the destruction of natural forest. The human activities were also reported in other parts of America. Therefore, the European assertion the America was the pristine of wilderness has been disputed because most of its natural environment had been modified prior to the arrival of early Europeans in the continent.
Bibliography
Denevan, William M. "The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82, no. 3 (1992): 369-385.
Giam, Xingli, Gopalasamy Reuben Clements, Sheema Abdul Aziz, Kwek Yan Chong, and Jukka Miettinen. "Rethinking the ‘back to wilderness’ concept for Sundaland’s forests." Biological Conservation 144, no. 12 (2011): 3149-3152.
Henige, David. "The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy." (1992): 179-181.
Richter, Daniel K., and James H. Merrell, eds. Beyond the Covenant Chain: The Iroquois and Their Neighbors in Indian North America, 1600-1800 . Penn State Press, 2010.
Williams, Michael. Americans and their forests: a historical geography . Cambridge University Press, 1992.
1 Daniel, R ichter and James H. Merrell, eds. Beyond the Covenant Chain: The Iroquois and Their Neighbors in Indian North America, 1600-1800 . Penn State Press, 2010.
2 Xingli, Giam., Gopalasamy Reuben Clements, Sheema Abdul Aziz, Kwek Yan Chong, and Jukka Miettinen. "Rethinking the ‘back to wilderness’ concept for Sundaland’s forests." Biological Conservation 144, no. 12 (2011): 3149-3152
3 David, Henige. "The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy." (1992): 179-181.
4 Michael, Williams,. Americans and their forests: a historical geography . Cambridge University Press, 1992.
