Ecological Imperialism The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 PDF

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Crosby, Alfred W., Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) Prologue "European emigrants and their descendants are all over the place...They compose the majority of those very few nations on this earth that consistently, decade after decade, export large quantities of food." (p. 3-4) They live in temperate zones that support similar flora and fauna and fall within a range of similar lattitudes. Pangaea Revisited MacNeill's Theory: people from complex, dense civilizations carry a broader range of diseases and immunities than people of less dense civilizations. When the two come into contact, the latter usually end up the sickest. (p. 32) The Norse and the Crusaders Crosby consciously and somewhat arbitrarily chooses the domestication of the horse (5,000 years ago) as the date by which the Old World Neolithinc Revolution had been completed in its original lands. He then calls the next 4,000 years of civilized development relatively unimportant. The Old World (Eurasia) spreads. The New World fails to develop the horse, the wheel, though they do develop social groups, temples and recording. On the period 500 A.D to 1,000 A.D.: "Western Europe stopped being the wrack left behind by the ebb of the Roman Empire and began being something new and vital. The dark centuries of barbarian wanderings and Carolingian false starts and general cultural infertility were over. . .this was more than a simple revival. The Gothic cathedral . . .was more than a sign of rebirth. It marked the first birth of a society of remarkable energy, brilliance, and arrogance. Such societies are often expansionistic." (p. 44) Iceland: 870 AD Greenland: late 10th Markland: 1,000 AD Vinland: 1,000+ AD What worked?  Vinland had sufficient grass for herds.  Animals provided Norse with milk (which they could digest, though Skraelings could not

 Norse had the wheel and built iron works (though metal weapons are not really a plus in hand-to-hand combat with stone weapons) What didn't?  colonies were too small (Norse society, even more so, Greenland society which is where the colonies actually originated from, was still small and could not support larger colonies)  skraelings were hostile in Vinland (much later they were also hostile in Greenland)  they did not bring infectious disease to wipe out skraelings (and their populations were too small for "maintenance of crowd disease" (p. 52)  Greenland colony was already failing before arrival of Black Death  mini ice age, deforestation, denuding of vegetation by animals depleted resources  ice blocked former Greenland fjords, limiting ship visits  colder climate, skraelings moved back in  their ships and navigation were not suited to frequent, accurate ocean voyages, and they were conservative about plying into the unknown The Crusaders: why wasn't the conquest permanent?  supply line to home was neither strong enough nor steady enough  ships were not adequate to transport large armies and accoutrements (and marching to the Holy Land took too heavy a toll in disease, weather, local predators (p. 60)  early disunity of Muslims did not last  there just weren't enough Crusaders for prolonged warfare and occupation  too many were killed by disease esp. malaria to which Europeans have no tolerance (and disease helped by malnutrition) to make propagation and permanenet settlement possible Iceland was the only surviving colony of this early expansion, probably because it was close, had a relatvely hospitable climate, and had no indigenes to deter colonization. The Fortunate Isles Atlantic ventures:  1291: vadino and Ugolino Vivaldi: sail around Africa, disappear  1336: Lanzarote Malocello: sails to Canaries, settles, killed by locals

early 15th: Azores used as rest stops, seeded with livestock 1439: King of Portugal grants settlement rights in Azores late 1440s: settlers exporting wheat and woad, but not sugar: wrong climate 1420s: Poto Santo (smaller Madeira) settlers (Columbus' father-in-law, Bartholomeu Perestrello, captain) bring rabbits, rabbits reproduce too vigorously and destry ecosystem, settlers leave  early 1400s: Madeira, settlers burn off trees, look for exportable product, grow sugar, firt water-driven mill: 1452, exporting to England , 1456. Population goes from 800 in 1455 to 17,000+ (inc. 2,000 slaves) by 1499. Though the climate was good for sugar, the island had to be terraformed. Terraces and intricate water courses were built.  Early slaves included Berbers, Canarians, Christianized Moors/Jews and only later, African.    

The Canarians, or Guanches, were brought by sailors on their way back from conquering the Canaries to Portugal. They settled the Canaries from Africa, probably from 2,000 BC to 100-200 AD. Related to Berbers, brought barley, wheat, beans, goats, dogs, pigs, maybe sheep, but no horses; pottery but no spinning/weaving or metalwork. 1483: after many years of attempts, and five years of all-out Spanish assault, Gran Canaria falls. 1492: La Palma falls. 1495: Tenerife, the last island, falls. Was Spanish conquest inevitable? Not by weapons, against which the Guanches had local advantage, nor by numbers (only 1,000 or so Spaniards could be brought in/supported at any time). The Guanches were not united in language or culture and had already suffered 100 years attrition to slavers. Spaniards had cavalry. Guanches ceded flat, grain-producing areas to Spaniards and retreated to defensible hills. Previous population growth among Guanches, possibly helped by importation of fig tree by Europeans, led to female infaticide. European diseases also took its toll. Winds Why go?     

want/need to go ships: large, fast, maneuverable enough navigational technology portable weaponry appropriate energy source: wind. John H. Parry 'the discovery of the sea' that is, the discovery of the winds and currents of the Atlantic suffficient to use it reliably (p. 108)

Sailing discoveries:

 Bartholomeu Dias: 1487 o yes, there was passage to India around Africa o the wind patterns of the South Atlantic were like those of the North Atlantic upside down  Columbus: o can't buck the trades: must sail west on the trades, but north, then east to get back (volta - crabwise)  Da Gama: o to sail from Europe to Indian Ocean, go south, then southwest almost to Brazil, then southeast around Cape of Good Hope o the Indian Ocean had many mariners from whom he could draw information o the people of the area had no cannons  Magellan: 1519, 5 ships, 240 crew o after being stuck in doldrums, sailed down coast of SA, around horn, then north before turning west. Lucked out, though it took 3.7 months. Magellan killed in Phillipines, Elcado commands voyage home. Victoria goes west, Trinidad goes east. 36 returned home from both, but only the 15 remaining on the Victoria were Europeans who now had a better sense of the world's oceans.  Ponce de Leon: 1513: discovers Florida, but more important, the Gulf Stream Within Reach, Beyond Grasp What areas were not hospitable for European occupation? Pacific Asia; already well established Middle East: ditto tropical Asia: too many "bugs" Africa: European plants and animals did not do well, and disease (Liberia: African-American transplants dies at rate almost equal to whites)  West Indies: indigenes died, but so did Europeans  Queensland: hot and moist but far fewer people and animals to host antiEuropean disease colonies

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Weeds "Any respectable theory that attempts to explain the Europeans' demographic advance has to provide explanation for at least two phenomena. The first is the demoralization and often the annihilation of the indigenous population of the NeoEuropes. . .Second, we must explain the stunning, even awesome, success of European agriculture in the Neo-Europes." (p. 147)

Considers three life forms that spread: weeds, feral animals, and pathogens. Considers three areas that were the seed-beds for further expansion: eastern third of the US, south-eastern corner of Australia (along with New Zealand), and south and coasts of South America. Forests razed for timber, animals overgrazing, and abandoned cultivated areas, all make room for weeds. Peaches: brought by Spaniards to Florida, brought north and grown by Amerindians, abandoned and were naturalized as Amerindian populations declined. Most "weeds" traveled unidirectionally: from Europe, not to Europe. Why don't they take over? "As they take over disturbed ground, they stabilize the soil, block the baking rays of the sunm and, for all their competitiveness, make it a better place for other plants than it was before. . .they give way to plants that may grow more slowly but grow taller and sturdier." (p. 169) Animals Pigs: prolific, eat anything (including much that humans eat: competing), high percent edible, go feral pretty fast, Cows: adapt to more hot climates than pigs, eat what humans don't and convert it to that which Europeans can digest: milk, Horses: adapt well Bees: native of Mediterranean and Middle East, brought to North America via Virginia colony, moved west slowly, sad harbingers to Amerindians of approaching Europeans, Rats: stowaways, almost destroyed Jamestown Ills Rapid spread of disease among indigenes was hastened by fleeing the disease. Often it appeared that whole areas were abandoned and left vacant before Europeans arrived. The southeastern US was fairly heavily populated, with complex societies, before disease left the area empaty. "The uneveness of the exchange [between Old World and New World epidemics] operated to the overwhelming advantage of the European invaders, and to the crushing disadvantage of the peoples whose ancestral homes were on the losing side of the seams of Pangaea." (p. 216) New Zealand So completely different from Europe but with certain compelling reasons for colonization in the late 18th cent.: timber, seals and whales, Maoris to convert or

enslave. By the early 19th cent. they had decimated the seal population and there were only sporadic whaling stations. That was in decline by 1840s due to harvesting calves and mothers from shore. Three requirements for Europeanization:  something was needed to attract Europeans in large enough quantities to disrupt the local ecosystem  large numbers of Europeans must be located near enough to make colonization practical  local peoples must be motivated to provide what they need Maori's adopted white potatoes and were soon exporting them to the world. Pigs also adapted well. They were physically and culturally susceptible to disease, including veneral disease, and practiced infanticide. After Europeans and missionaries established a colony on the north end of North Island and Maori's started adapting European plants and animals, the area became a popular port for whalers. Maori products were traded for metal implements and muskets by which Maori's could use to dominate other local Maori groups. Maori groups, decimated by European disease and too willingly adapting European culture, eventually allowed Britain to make them a colony in hopes of maintaining some of their own culture. From a pakeha population of 2,000 in 1840, the population rose to 32,000 by 1854. Meanwhile Old World animals took over, making room for Old World invasive plants. The same pattern emerged in the South Island as Maori's were able to plant and raise Old World crops and animals. Explanations Martin's theory, [that the first wave of human hunters devastated ecosystems, provides an explanation for much about the neo-Europes that is otherwise obscure. And it places Amerindians, Aborigines, and Maori, on the one hand, and European invaders, on the other, in a fresh and intellectually provocative relationship: not simply as adversaries, with the indigenes passive and the whites active, but as two waves of invaders of the same species, the first acting as shock troops, clearing the way for the second wave, with its more complicated economies and greater numbers." (p. 280) Conclusions The Neo-Europes were created in waves. Early invasion of pioneers and mid 19th century invasions of push-pull from Europe. Neo-Europeans population increased

rapidly but has since stabilised. Neo-Europes have the appropriate climate to grow most of the world's food. There are no more earth locations to provide windfall advantages to migrants. We need to be careful with the ecosystem we use now to ensure its future....