HIS 3525 - Environmental History of North America

Credits: 4

This course examines some of the principal ways that human beings have interacted with the natural environment of North America from roughly 1600 to the present. Humans have always shaped and been shaped by their natural environment, and through course readings, lectures and discussions, participants in this course will examine this reciprocal relationship. Issues to be discussed include Native American management of the environment; the effects of the European ecological invasion; resource exploitation since the industrial era; the foundations of the preservationist and conservationist movements at the beginning of the twentieth century; the evolution of twentieth- century environmentalism; and the historical context of current environmental problems.
Fulfills: H in LS Core
Note: This course is usually not appropriate for freshmen.