New England Colonies

New England, even before the colonist came from different parts of Europe already was a land where people thrived with life, culture, ideas, and many other characteristics that made this land so fruitful and complex. In this paper we will analyze the changes that happened in this area after the colonists set foot here and what caused those significant modifications, one of them were the weeds brought by the colonist, which modifies much of the land and because if their nature dominated over the land and killed off much of the local flora. Another is the animals that mobilized with the new settlers and much like the weeds, were without realizing it modifying much of the land to suit their needs. One of the most important causes was the diseases …show more content…
“In the north, spring commenced ‘when the leaves begin to sprout, when the wild geese appear, when the fawns of moose attain to a certain size in the bellies of their mothers, and when the seals bear their young.” (Cronon, 38). In this little extraction from Changes in the Land, it is clear to us the extend in which the diversity of animals that this land had, Indians knew the different animals and knew how to catch them as well, and because of the seasons they switched from fishing during the warmer days of spring and summer to hunting beavers and other creatures during the colder days of fall and winter, they farmed as well and the males were the ones who hunted while the females remained in the villages taking care of the crops. In the north area of New England, because of the cold, the Indians would hunt more because of the harsh conditions of the land, while in the south were it was warmer the different villages or settlements would hunt really little and dedicate themselves to the croplands that produced more than enough food for them. After the colonist came and brought many animals with them, in a way to help them like cattle but also ones that were not desired like rats that transmitted many diseases to other animals and humans as well. “There were even mammalian weeds. The gray rat was a regular shipboard traveler which spread inland from port cities as English agricultural settlement proceeded. The house mouse did likewise.” “Mosquito-borne illness sometimes began more frequent in the newly flooded areas behind dams” (Cronon, 153-155). Many insects were brought by the colonist unbeknownst to them which helped the transmission of diseases throughout the

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