Borderlands of Knowledge about Nature: Crossing and Creating Boundaries in Early America

Abstract

Histories of nature and the environment have become a vital pathway of historical scholarship, offering richly varied veins of research and interpretation for a wide range of time periods and regions. This issue of Early American Studies brings to light new research on the themes of nature, knowledge, technology, and the permeable boundaries of colonial North America. The articles demonstrate the ways in which the production of knowledge was closely linked to the cultural production of space in different ecological regions and historical periods. These studies bring to our attention different kinds of knowledge and applications of science to the historical creation of borderlands among diverse peoples and physical environments in the Americas. This concluding essay develops these integrative themes, emphasizing the points that constitute a dialogue among them. In addition, it brings to this overview of “the environment in early America” relevant comparative references from Latin American environmental history to illustrate more fully the continental scope of the themes and problems that integrate this issue.