Ecological Imperialism

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Ecological Imperialism
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Ecological Imperialism

• This is the story of how a few Europeans

Hernan Cortes
C. Columbus
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Ecological Imperialism

• with some nifty but basically cheap weapons

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Ecological Imperialism

• were able to conquer a powerful empire of 10-12
  million people in a few years.

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Ecological Imperialism

• It is the story of diseases like smallpox that
  killed more Indians than any Spanish gun

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Ecological Imperialism

• and it is the story of plants

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Ecological Imperialism

• and animals that transformed the American
  ecosystem and undermined Indian society and
  resistance.

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I. The Role of Geography
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30-12,000 BC, Ice Age Global Warming in reverse
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Mostly, though probably boat (sites in Florida
before Alaska)
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A. Invaders from Mars

• When the Indians arrived in the Americas they
  might as well have been from Mars biologically
  the two worlds had been separated for millions of
  years? no competition, stupid prey? early success
  and pop. growth

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B. The Environment Strikes Back

• Global warming (hot, starving mammoths)
• Hungry and effective hunters (high-tech spears)
• Pleistocene overkill (extinction of almost all
  megafauna)
• ? transition to agriculture (less healthy
  Indians, complex societies class divisions
  developed spread by women) no domestication
  of animals (wait for it)

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C. Adaptation

• Indians adapt to diff. climate zones (diversity
  between groups)
• Trade between groups? individuals specialized on
  talents (diversity within groups)

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D. Examples of Diversity

• 1. Mississippian societies trade societies built
  around rivers dominate Wisconsin to Louisiana
• Urban centers
• Mound builders
• Tied to Great Lakes (Algonquian Iroquois
  Atlantic)

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Cahokia (30,000 in 1200 AD)
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Animal Mounds
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• Cahokia collapses from over-farming, drought,
  competition from neighbors? disperse to plains
  and prairie villages
• Replaced by Coosa metropole (GA)
• Rise fall of metropolis-based societies
  Cycling

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2. Anasazi

• Ancestors of Hopi and Zuni in Southwest
• Some of most populated areas in the world at
  their height Chaco Canyon and Bandalier Mountain

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Chaco Canyon
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Bandelier Mountain
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Anasazi Collapse

• Chaco Canyon collapsed in part because of a
  sustained drought? inadequate food surplus?
  unable to mobilize labor, religious ceremonies,
  trade? dispersion to smaller villages nearer
  water (Pueblos)

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II. Europeans How did they do it?

• A. The Traditional Explanations
• 1. Superior technology
• Steel weapons (swords and armor)
• Guns (flintlock muskets, cannons)
• 2. Written language
• Superior communication abilities
• 3. Conquest Religion
• Catholicism motivated the conquistadores to
  conquer in the name of God

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Problems with the Traditional Story

• Spanish armor was as much an obstacle as an aid
  in the dense forests and heat of Mexico Aztec
  swords could decapitate a horse
• Spanish guns were inaccurate and often misfired
• Cannons were dramatic but ineffective against an
  enemy that did not fight in tight formations
• The Aztecs had very effective communication
  systems developed over hundreds of years of
  conquest
• Many of the conquistadores were not particularly
  religious men and were in it for the gold, not God

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B. The Socio-Cultural Explanation

• 1. Aztec Confusion
• Cortes and his men seemed to fulfill the Aztec
  prophecy of the return of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec
  feathered serpent god

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• Cortes used this misperception to his advantage.
  The Aztec emperor, Montezuma, upon hearing that
  Quetzalcoatl had returned, actually invited
  Cortes into the capital city of Tenochtitlan.

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2. Divide and Conquer

• Perhaps more importantly, Cortes used the
  Quetzalcoatl myth to recruit Indians to help the
  Spanish.
• The Aztec empire, like all other empires, was
  built by conquering other peoples. The Aztecs
  demanded tribute from these conquered peoples,
  sometime in form of human sacrifice

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• Just as the Algonquians in the Great Lakes region
  eventually joined with the French for protection
  against the Iroquois (who then sided w/the
  English), thousands of conquered Indians joined
  Cortes in attacking the Aztecs.
• Among those who joined Cortes was a woman named
  Malinche who served as guide and translator for
  Cortes.
• Mayan princess, enslaved by Aztecs
• Bears Cortes children believes saving Indians
  from Hell disease via conversion

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C. Biological Warfare Invaders from Mars Redux

• Unlike peoples in the Old World, Native Americans
  did not domesticate very many animals
  (Pleistocene overkill) in particular they did
  not have pigs or chickens.

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• Big germ killersinfluenza, tuberculosis,
  measles, smallpoxoriginally animal diseases that
  mutated and got picked up by humans who lived
  close to their food source.
• Europeans eventually got immunity (after Black
  Death) Indians did not have the time? virgin
  soil epidemic

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• 1580, Thomas Hariot, Roanoke The Indians
  began to die very fast, and many in a short
  space in some townes about twentie, in some
  fourtie, in some sixtie, in one sixe score,
  which in trueth was very manie in respect to
  their numbers....The disease also was so strange
  that they neither knew what it was, nor how to
  cure it the like by report of the oldest men in
  the countrey never happened before, time out of
  mind.
• 1663, New England colonist "it pleased God to
  visite these Indeans with a great sickness, and
  such a mortalitie that, of 1000, above 900 and a
  halfe of them dyed, and many of them did rott
  above ground for want of buriall."

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• Impacts of disease
• 1. Aztec leaders overwhelmed by 1) confusion of
  Quetzalcoatl myth, 2) treason of tributaries,
  and 3) massive deaths from disease
• 2. War on the Beaver historian Calvin Martin
  argues near-extinction beaver Great Lakes result
  rejection of taboos as inexplicable disease,
  conversion, and loss of elders undermined Micmac
  society? kill beavers as enemy bringing on
  devastation
• 3. Expansion of Indian wars some tribes largely
  unaffected? prey on weaker? need for new
  alliances (e.g. Iroquois Algonquians or
  Powhaten or Squanto)

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Important Note about Biological Warfare

• Because this devastation was unintentional (they
  wanted slaves and converts), the term genocide
  does not technically apply, even though the
  results were essentially the same
• Upwards of 90 of all Native Americans pre-1492
  killed by Europeans (upwards of tens of millions
  of people)

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III. Ecological Imperialism

• Q How did a small number of Spaniards hold on to
  their conquest?
• A With a little help from their friends

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• A. Weeds
• Any plant that spreads rapidly and out-competes
  others on disturbed soil.
• Native plant life had no resistance to the
  plantsespecially weedsthat the Europeans
  introduced to the New World.
• Example Kentucky bluegrass, introduced by
  English around 1685? now covers entire SE

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• Whats the problem with weeds?
• Weeds replace native plants? less food for native
  animals (toxins)? less food for Indians?
  starvation and further Indian population decline
  (vicious cycle)
• (20th Century San Joaquin Valley introduced
  plants 63 of grasslands, 66 of woodland, 54 of
  chaparral)
• C3 vs. C4 plants

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• B. Animals
• Europeans brought barnyard animals with them to
  the New World horses, sheep, goats, domesticated
  dogs, chickens, cows, and pigs
• Europeans let animals forage free for food?
  compete w/native animals (Indians severely
  punished for harming) tear up the soil? more
  weeds (see above vicious cycle)

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C. Shock Troops

• Animals, weeds, and disease traveled ahead of
  Europeans clearing the way Europeans often
  discovered empty lands because Indians had
  died/moved away
• Europeans (esp. English) used emptiness to
  justify further conquest Indians didnt use the
  land, so why should they have it?
• False assumption about the wilderness

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D. Keystone Species

• Indians manipulated environment (fire) in ways
  necessary for them to thrive? Americas more a
  garden than wilderness
• Weakening of Indians? further disruption of
  eco-system? vicious cycle

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Conclusion

• Europeans were able to conquer the New World and
  maintain control over it in large part because of
  certain environmental advantagesdisease
  immunity, opportunistic plants and animalsthat
  increased the limited cultural and technological
  advantages that the Europeans brought with them.
• Neo-Europe
• Proof Africa