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> When the first European explorers looked at North America, they thought they were seeing a pristine wilderness, looking more or less as it always had. But the
by panopticon 12y ago
> When the first European explorers looked at North America, they thought they were seeing a pristine wilderness, looking more or less as it always had. But they were really seeing wildly out of balance ecologies still reeling from the recent loss of most of their large animals.
Any sources on this? I'd like to read up on this stuff.
- moultano 12y ago1491 is where I learned about it. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39020.1491 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39020.1491 There's also a much shorter version of the book published in the Atlantic. http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/03/1491/302445/ http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/03/1491/30244...
- ggchappell 12y agoI thought The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples by Tim Flannery was very good. The book actually covers a long timespan. It begins with the Chicxulub meteor impact 66 million years BP and ends with the present time. Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0802138888/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0802138888/