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Summary of all the assigned articles LET-GESB2108-CEH (Environmental History)
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Summary of all the assigned articles LET-GESB2108-CEH (Environmental History)
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ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYPERIOD 4
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WEEK 1
“What is Environmental History” Hughes
• not simply the history of environment!!!! always includes the human side of the relationship
• studies the mutual relationships of humans and nature through time
• seeks understanding of human beings as they have lived, works and thought in relationship to the rest of
nature through the changes brought by time
• env historians tend to think that the unavoidable fact that human societies and individuals are interrelated
with the environment in mutual change deserved constant recognition
• donald worster: leading american env historian; “its part of a revisionist effort to make the discipline far
more inclusive in its narratives than it has been traditionally”
• —> historians should see human events within the context where they happen —> the narrative of history
must make ecological sense
• the growing attention that the env problems received, show the need for env histories that will help
understand ways in which humans have caused them & attempted to deal with —> might seem that a lot of
them appeared only recently but there is no doubt about their tremendous effect during the earlier centuries
as well —> historians give attention to contemporary problems BUT also realize that the relationship
between humans n nature has had a formative role in every period of history
• env historians recognize that human societies have experienced change in their relationship to natural
systems (sometimes slow, others fast)
the themes of environmental history
3 broad categories
1) influence of env factors on human history
• considered the env itself & its effect on humans
• env = earth with soils, water & living things
• climate & weather, the distribution & migration of animals & plants and other changes with a nonhuman
causation
• env historians rely on reports by scientists for background to studying the impact of the factors
• jared diamond: the general condition of the env makes the development of human cultures possible
• “environmental determinism”: emphasis on the formative role of the env in human history
• idea that illnesses arise from environmental conditions (started in antiquity) (human play a critical role in
spreading them but they operate from beyond human control)
2) the env changes caused by human & the ways human-made changes affected the course of history
• dominant theme (in terms of the nr of works written)
• human activities that affect the env: hunting, fishing, agriculture, mining, forestry etc —> many make
the env more amenable to human use BUT they are also damaging
• also other types of history that study the types of human activity
3) the history of human thought about the environment & the ways in which patterns of human attitudes
have motivated actions affecting the env
• study of nature, ecology & the ways in which systems of thought & cultures have affected human
treatment of various aspects of nature —> impossible to understand what has happened to earth & its
living systems without giving attention to this aspect of social & intellectual history
environmental history inevitably has a human-centered approach BUT they realize that humans r a part of
nature & not entirely in control of their own destiny —> env history can be a corrective to the tendency of
humans to see themselves as separate from nature etc
env historians rely on reports by scientists for background to studying the impact of the factors
many historians maintain that what ppl think and believe exerts a motive force on how they will behave in
regard to the natural world; others point out that ppl r skilful at adapting their attitudes to their needs &
desires and that this is as true of an environmental sphere as any other
among the scholarly discipline
env history is about as interdisciplinary as intellectual pursuits can get —> env historians gather information
from widespread specialties + scholars from a number of disciplines have been caught up in env history
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, related to other social sciences:
can be considered a social science because it studies how human societies have related to the natural
world through time.
some say that its a social science, other that its an interdisciplinary methodology
to do env history properly u need familiarity with ecology and other science like geo (historical
geography & env history are suuuuper close)
a developed environmental historical narrative should be an account of changes in human society as
they relate to changes in natural environment
important thrust in env history is the study of political expressions of env policy —> nations embodied
it in the creation of env law
william green: no approach to history is more perceptive of human interconnections in the world
community, or the interdependence of humans and other living beings on the planet
env history is also related to economics: economics, trade & politics are regulated by the availability,
location and finite nature of natural resources
related to other humanistic inquiries:
bc its interested in what ppl think abt the natural environment & how they have expressed their ideas in
art —> valid part of env history to establish what the views were on the part of individuals & societies
the roles of religious & cultural traditions in encouraging / inhibiting practices affecting the env have
been the subject of much commentary & argument
related to natural sciences:
data on historical climates have emerged from sources as diverse as tree rings and air trapped in the
accumulated layers of snow in the ice caps
env historians r concerned by the need to differentiate the effects of climatic change on the env from
those cause by human agency
env history derived to an extent from recognition of the implications of ecological science on
understanding the history of the human species
env historians have no always come to grips with the implications of ecology: 1) the human species is
part of a community of life, evolved within that community by cooperating with, competing against &
using other species so humankind’s survivals depends upon the survival of the community life &
achieving a sustainable place within it —> humans and the rest of the community of life have been
engaged in a process of coevolution that did not end with the origin of the human species but continues
until today (humans never existed in isolation from the rest of life and they could not do so bc they r
only a part of the complex & intimate associations that make life possible)
environmental history and the older history
• before 20th: historical writers regarded the exercise of power within human societies as the proper subject
of history —> thats why wars & careers of leaders dominated the narratives (like in antiquity for example)
• marxist historians: turn to proletariat BUT it was still the story of the power struggle in society
• now: turn to those obscured from history —> women, marginalized groups etc —> historians demonstrate
that these “voiceless” entities were in fact actors in the historical drama & larger narrative
env history cannot ignore the realities of political and military power, economic & ethnic groups for whose
benefits they are wielded BUT seeing env history simply as a part of a progression within the discipline of
history would be a mistake —> nature is not powerless but its the source of all power instead
env history is useful bc it can add grounding & perspective to the more traditional concerns of
historians + can revel relationships between these concerns & the underlying processes of the world
WEEK 2
“A Political Ecology in the Early Spanish Caribbean” Molly Warsh
1529: spanish residents on the venezuelan coasts emphasized the importance of human hearing to the process
of oyster harvesting —> argued that wheras a dredge moved blindly along the ocean floor, the indigenous
crews could identify the oyster banks by listening to the noises they made —> reflected residents’ careful
observation of the habitat that sustained them even as they exploited it —> they defended their vernacular
practices of human and environmental management as superior to royally sponsored mechanical
interventions
In their repeated refusal to permit oyster-harvesting technology, Spaniards outlined a regional political
ecology comprising the relationship among wealth creation, the ecosystem at the root of that prosperity and
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,the costs and consequences of expertise —> practices undergirding this political ecology challenged royal
policies that sought to apply administrative approaches honed in a European context to the human, material,
and natural wealth of the Pearl Coast
Jurisdiction over these settlements’ residents posed challenges to royal policymakers, but so too did
the question of how to cultivate and profit from the region’s products.
crowns early approach: to treat them like precious metals, the products of underwater mines as opposed to
the creations of living creatures BUT pearls could not be easily taxed (weight-based measure were ill based)
—> local custom produced the balance of exploitation and cultivation that shaped the industry and the
communities it sustained
Pearls were not the only valuable product of nature to generate disputes between communities and crowns —
> timber harvesting, whaling, slat productions —> BUT the particular challenges of oyster exploitation and
cultivation, combined with pearls’ slippery material qualities and a labor regime dependent upon indigenous
and African crews, presented a complex and unfamiliar knot of issues.
Site-specific knowledge of the environment underlay free residents’ steadfast resistance to royal
intervention in pearl-fishing practices and generated challenging alternative visions of the role of diverse
subjects in the creation and distribution of profit
The history of the Venezuelan pearl fisheries reveals environmental considerations shaping early Atlantic
imperial practice and asks us to consider the distinct and yet mutually influential paces at which ecological
change, regional social and economic patterns, and imperial administration evolved —> inhabitants of the
pearl fisheries were “administrators” of nature as well as consumers of its products, and this active
engagement shaped their relationship with a distant crown
>> The history of these settlements brings to the fore local culture’s role in shaping royal approaches to the
stewardship of people and products of the New World, and offers a window onto how these practices
informed and challenged claims to authority in the early modern period —> shed light on the lasting
importance of the Caribbean as a site of imperial experimentation
The history of the pearl fisheries raises the question of how we might develop a more integrated
understanding of the influence of the New World on European approaches to nature, imperial administration,
and the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Renewed attention to the pearl fisheries also reflects the growing
interest in historicising the oceans and considering people as “ecological actors” who both observed and
altered the changing sea.
Employing the term political ecology to denote the insights the pearl fisheries produced regarding
the nested relationships among profit, expertise, and ecological consequences suggests that the local
understanding of this interdependence shaped the perceptions and exercise of power, both on the Pearl Coast
and by an emerging royal bureaucracy. In other words, the political ecology of the pearl fisheries mapped a
maritime circulatory system of living, breathing parts that informed regional and distant understand- ings of
and approaches to this corner of the New World
the sixteenth century saw the region’s most spectacular pearl bonanzas —> the scale of exploitation changed
dramatically with the arrival of Spaniards in the early sixteenth century —> they oversaw an intense assault
on the region’s oyster banks, the consequences of which illustrate how a dramatic shift in natural resource
exploitation can transform an ecosystem and the relationships among its inhabitants —> In the decades that
followed, scattershot settlement, plunder, and profits sustained royal interest in the Costa de Perlas without
generating major crown intervention or any sustained set of administrative privileges —> no fixed policy for
settlement emerged —> King Ferdinand continued to try to gain control of the Pearl Coast through
piecemeal contractual concessions. In the absence of an effective administrative strategy, various contending
impulses shaped this imperial outpost as royal bureaucrats, religious officials, and forced and free migrants
of various backgrounds forged a violent stewardship over the region.
The fisheries’ increasing reliance on coerced Indian labor occurred in spite of the Spanish Crown’s efforts to
prevent such abuses in the Indies —> 1512: the Leyes de Burgos prohibiting the enslavement of Indians in
the New World
1517: Bartolomé de Las Casas successfully lobbied in Spain for permission to join the missions in the
fisheries —> during his time there that he formed his enduring impressions of the danger and brutality of
pearl-diving labor regimes
1519: charles i authorized several religious missions to the Pearl Coast in hopes of maintaining peaceful
relations with its indigenous inhabitants —> moderate success —> The competing impulses that continued
to shape the crown’s haphazard approach to the Caribbean can be seen in its experiments with the supply of
labor to the region —> these early royal experiments in supplying the region with enslaved Africans
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, underscore the initial appeal of the emerging Atlantic empire as a new arena in which to pursue European
alliances —> these strategies point to the Spanish Crown’s initial hope that practices forged in a European
context would render productive and familiar these promising but unruly outposts of its emerging maritime
empire —> HOWEVER —> these early royal visions of wealth management failed to encompass the
realities of life in the pearl fisheries, where residents produced distinct understandings of the relationship
between economies on land and ecologies at sea, as well as between the labor of diverse subjects and the
wealth of the empire.
quinto records: provide a powerful sense of the wealth produced in the region and the changing scale of
resource exploitation even as they also present a distorted view of the actual numbers of pearls being
harvested; point to particular accounting problems - Pearls were to be assessed by weight and grouped into
units called marcos BUT it was ill-suited to capturing the worth of any particular pearl or batch of pearls bc
they bore more resemblance to precious metals —> weight-based measure failed to account for the quality of
any given pearl; it reflected ideas about the nature of wealth born of experience with gold and silver rather
than an organic maritime product + the tax was easy to avoid at sea or on land by skimming the best pearls
off the top of the harvest before the quinto was assessed
Pearl-diving practices varied somewhat over the course of the sixteenth century as the boats in which pearl
fishing took place grew larger and accommodated more enslaved divers, but the general pattern consisted of
divers descending to oyster beds and placing oysters in a basket or bag that would then be hauled up to the
vessel: theory - he oysters were to be transported to shore, where they would be opened under the watchful
eye of a Spanish overseer BUT practice - divers were opening the oysters in the boats and keeping many of
the best pearls for themselves + on-island dynamics further complicated the issue of control, as inhabitants of
all origins traded pearls for sundry items.
The steady rise of quinto payments over the second and third decades of the sixteenth century reflected the
development of the circum-Caribbean slave trade, and this expanding trade in enslaved indigenous labor,
the Pearl Coast’s promise as a source of wealth transformed these settlements into a focal point of the
crown’s evolving New World strategy. In this context it is unsurprising that the crown welcomed
technological proposals that promised to simplify the activity at the heart of the region’s appeal: oyster
harvesting.
first extant license for mechanized pearl fishing dates to 1520 —> juan de cardenas’s licence permitted him
to arm two caravels (sailing ships) to travel to the coast of Paria (present-day Venezuela) in search of various
types of material wealth —> reflected the lingering influence of existing ideas about pearls as booty and
treasure that informed the royal approach —> Over time, the contracts for mechanized pearl fishing granted
to Cárdenas’s successors would reflect not only greater geographic precision but also a grudging recognition
that the human, environmental, and economic relationships that sustained the Pearl Coast reflected local
practices with a living ecology at their heart
By the 1520s, a taxonomy of pearls emerged that aimed to better capture the inherent variety of the
natural jewel and the resulting profound variation in any individual specimen’s perceived worth.
Although the immense numbers of pearls harvested in these early decades might suggest that
Spanish residents cared little for the industry’s sustainability, that was not the case. Territorial settlements
and submarine habitats reacted to changing circumstances at different paces, and the full impact of the
sudden upswing in boat traffic and bodies in the water on the bivalve’s environment was not immediately
apparent. Spanish inhabitants of the pearl fisheries did indeed pay attention to maritime ecology even at the
height of their oyster-harvesting frenzy —> carefully monitored the effects of tides, temperatures, and water
currents on oyster reproduction and growth + they incorporated the indigenous knowledge + crown did
recognize that oyster harvesting required human skill: unlike earlier dredges, the new pearl-fishing machines
no longer attempted to replace human labor altogether. Instead, they promised to substitute one kind of
subject for another.
In territories only recently incorporated into royal domains in Europe and beyond, the Spanish Crown
wrestled with the question of how to govern unfamiliar lands and people —> in the crown’s concessions to
pearl-fishing entrepreneurs in the 1550s and 1560s, European approaches continued to coexist alongside a
recognition of New World realities BUT the increasing presence of enslaved africans complicated a
challenging landscape of jurisdiction over people and products
in the face of such continued challenges to royal jurisdiction over subjects and objects, it is no
surprise that the crown welcomed new proposals to streamline the operation of the pearl fisheries. —> new
inventions attempted to limit this expert engagement to Europeans
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