The unending frontier : an environmental history of the early modern world / by John F. Richards.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richards, John F.

Series:

California world history library ; 1.

ACLS Humanities E-Book

The California world history library ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--History.

Human ecology.

Nature--Effect of human beings on--History.

Nature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (697 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It was the age of exploration, the age of empire and conquest, and human beings were extending their reach-and their numbers-as never before. In the process, they were intervening in the world's natural environment in equally unprecedented and dramatic ways. A sweeping work of environmental history, The Unending Frontier offers a truly global perspective on the profound impact of humanity on the natural world in the early modern period. John F. Richards identifies four broadly shared historical processes that speeded environmental change from roughly 1500 to 1800 c.e.: intensified human land use along settlement frontiers; biological invasions; commercial hunting of wildlife; and problems of energy scarcity. The Unending Frontier considers each of these trends in a series of case studies, sometimes of a particular place, such as Tokugawa Japan and early modern England and China, sometimes of a particular activity, such as the fur trade in North America and Russia, cod fishing in the North Atlantic, and whaling in the Arctic. Throughout, Richards shows how humans-whether clearing forests or draining wetlands, transporting bacteria, insects, and livestock; hunting species to extinction, or reshaping landscapes-altered the material well-being of the natural world along with their own.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Maps

List of Tables

Preface

Introduction

Part I. The Global Context

Part II. Eurasia and Africa

Part III. The Americas

Part IV. The World Hunt

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 623-659) and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9780520900950

0520900952

9780520939356

0520939352

9781597349727

1597349720

OCLC:

53000132