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Seeing the Forest from the Trees, and the Continent from the Forest: Trees and Early European Efforts to Understand the North American Environment

Thu, March 31, 3:00 to 4:30pm, Westin Seattle Hotel, Olympic

Abstract

For present-day environmental historians, North America’s trees provide an invaluable physical archive for understanding its past climates and environments, especially before the era of abundant written records. We can analyze tree rings to reconstruct past droughts and temperature trends, and measure tree pollen from lake sediment cores to reveal shifts in the range and distribution of species. However, for the first Spanish, French, and English explorers, America’s forests held other meanings, as they struggled to make sense of the continent’s unfamiliar climate and environment. This paper will examine how different European expeditions described America’s trees and forests up to the establishment of the first enduring European colonies (ca.1610). It will argue that Europeans were hindered in their efforts to understand American environments because they often viewed forests as a cause rather than consequence of climatic and even social conditions, and because at first they often focused on their potential to provide European commodities rather than their own resources.

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