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“European Ecological Imperialism” by Crosby
In the book ‘Ecological Imperialism,’ Alfred Crosby hints out that majority of the Neo-European population is mainly composed of people of European origin. The issue of increased population of such people of European descent on foreign lands baffles Alfred. This makes him try to understand how it could be possible for those people to get access to such areas and outdo the natives in demographic numbers. The fact of increased concentrations of the people of European origin in such countries, including America, is a matter of debate and borrows a lot from the historical background of colonialism. It is of crucial importance to note that for a nation to colonize other nations, the colonizer must have powers that supersede that of the colony. This power may come in different forms with the major one being the emergence of supremacy through intellectual property. This can be harnessed to offer competitive advantage over other nations in many forms as depicted by Crosby in his book. The other way in which power supremacy can be used is through military intervention. Several colonialists had superior weaponry that could not be matched with that of the colonies. They, therefore, had ease of access to several locations and establish their roots there without being overthrown by their colonies.
The Europeans majorly used the intellectual prowess to conquer their colonies as is succinctly depicted in the book. The other issue of concern that the book revolves around is the means through which the Europeans dominated the agricultural sector in the lands of their colonies. They were able to produce many food surpluses that also did well in the international markets making them feature as amongst the world’s top exporters of agricultural products (Crosby 74). It is significant to note that the Europeans introduced several plants and animals to the lands of their colonies. Such were associated with several diseases that affected the native inhabitants, their health, soils as well as properties in various ways. My thesis is that Crosby’s ecological approach, which emphasizes the “portmanteau biota”, is important because it puts human demography into the context of plant and animal life.
Ecological imperialism refers to the notion that the European settlers became successful in conquering their colonies using several means. One of the reasons that ensured the success of colonization of the Europeans was the introduction of animals to the foreign nations that they conquered. Some of these animals acted as vectors of certain diseases that could be spread to human beings. These animals introduced several pathogenic infections as well as diseases to the native people, who were colonized by the Europeans (Miller and Elizabeth 58). This led to massive drop in population of the natives following the fact that they were not used to such diseases. However, the Europeans continued to gain their success over such diseases following the fact that they were well adapted to them. European had also been living with such disease and animals in their lands of origin. In addition, the success of the individuals from Europe was evident following the introduction of several plants to the lands of the colonies (Crosby 79). Such plants were termed alien or invasive species of plants.
The invasive species always impact negatively on the environments of the colonies. The Europeans were so much aware of this fact that they came up with such plants including weeds. The native inhabitants of the colonial lands did not know how to deal with the problems resulting from such weeds. Their agricultural production potentials greatly reduced due to the limiting power of the weeds. In the European colonial neighborhoods, their agricultural production potentials intensively magnified following the fact that they had prior exposure and requisite knowledge to deal with such problems emanating from such invasive plants (Crosby 58).
It is of crucial significance to note that the European colonization of America happened in the period of 1492 to the year 1800. The dream of the Europeans to colonize the American land was inspired by the quest for richness (Miller and Elizabeth 53). The Europeans wanted to become rich thereby started their exploration across the Atlantic. During such period of colonization, the total population of the Native Americans was not clearly defined. However, the most remarkable incidence was the rapid decline in population of the Americans following the period of colonization. The massive decline took place between the years 1492 and the year 1800. This followed the increase in spread of diseases that were introduced by the colonialists.
The European colonialists brought several diseases to the foreign colonial territories. Alien vectors including the animals they came with transferred some of these diseases to the Native Americans. Some of these European diseases included smallpox as well as influenza (Crosby, 74). Other diseases included bubonic plagues as well as pneumonic plagues. These diseases did major havoc to the American populations leading to massive drop in their populations. These diseases affected the American population since they had never had prior exposure to such diseases. However, the Europeans had an advantage over such diseases since they had prior exposure, thus, kept safe from them.
In addition, the European conquest was successful following the introduction of the alien plant species (Miller and Elizabeth 67). Such species posed major challenges to the Native Americans. They affected the crop fields thereby affecting the production potentials of such field. This led to decrease in crop production by the Americans. The Americans did not have prior exposure to such conditions, thus, were unaware of measures to curb and mitigate such problems presented by those alien plant species (Miller and Elizabeth, 69). This exposed them to increased cases of food crisis leading to loss of lives. This contributed to the decrease in America’s population between 1492 and 1800. The alien plant species also affected the soils in various ways. They reduced the soil quality leading to a decline in the agricultural production potentials of the Americans, food shortage, and ultimately population decline. Conversely, the Europeans had prior exposure to such conditions that allowed them to handle the problems presented by such plants since they were of their native origins.
The introduction of alien species of animals also made the Europeans successful in the conquest of America. Some of those animals included pests, rodents, worms, and pigs. These animals acted as vectors of several diseases that were transferrable to human beings (Miller and Elizabeth 57). The major carriers of diseases included the mice, rats, as well as worms. These affected the Native American populations thereby leading to significant drops in the American demographics in the colonial periods. This offered colonial advantage to the Europeans over the Americans during those periods.
Works Cited
Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2004. Print.
Miller, Robert J, and Elizabeth Furse. Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, and Manifest Destiny. Westport (Conn.: Praeger, 2006. Print.
