“In short, Indians who hunted game animals were not just taking the ‘unplanted bounties of nature’; in an important sense, they were harvesting a foodstuff which they had consciously been instrumental in creating. Few English observers could have realized this. People accustomed to keeping domesticated animals lacked the conceptual tools to recognize that the Indians were practicing a more distant kind of husbandry of their own.”

-William Cronon in Changes in the Land

The failure of European colonists to understand Native American practices and their relationship with the ecosystem was a common theme throughout the colonial era. Before colonists could slow down and recognize the stable relationship Native Americans maintained with nature, it was too late.

Chief of Abenakis and Etchemins greets European settlers

The introduction of European colonists drastically altered the Native American way of life. European colonists had very little regard for the honor and trust of Native American culture and thus took advantage of their hospitality. It resulted in an exploitive positive feedback loop that continued throughout the colonial era until the colonists reached the West coast.

In this map, the true damage of colonialism on Native Americans and their practices is demonstrated.

Driven by the King of England’s desire to subjugate “savage” Native Americans, a Native American genocide occurred that that led to the eradication of several tribes and a loss of culture in many others.

By analyzing the key differences in Native and colonist values, we can trace back the source of this systematic destruction of Native American lives and pinpoint which values were crucial to the loss of sustainability. We have much to learn from our past, and if properly analyzed, it can help us envision a future in which sustainability is once more at the forefront of our value system.

Clearing of tropical rainforest in Papua New Guinea

Many of the destructive practices and values associated with efficiency still linger in our modern society. The Western focus on monetary gain has caused us to harm our ecology over time. It is easy to dismiss these shifts, but these differences in perspective demonstrate that it was not always this way and still does not have to be.