Creatures of Empire

posted in: Historical Perspectives | 0
ed | Farming with Carnivores Network

Historians write that it is important to know the PAST so that we can come to understand the PRESENT, and by doing so create a more enlightened FUTURE.

So I wish to share with you this excellent book, Creatures of Empire, by author Virginia De John Anderson.  It is a book that anyone who cares for livestock on their farm should read.

How did the colonists from Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe view their animals? How did our Native Peoples view wild animals, (as they did not make use of domestic livestock)?

And how did the Europeans view the Land and how it would be used by their livestock?  And what about the wild animals, especially the carnivores…how did they view them?

This ideology that became entrenched in the East moved westward over time. Can we learn anything from these relationships that changed our continent, our wildlife and ourselves?