Perspective Of Environmental History Research Articles

‶Don’t Say Neigh, Say Yay”

Introduction The television series The Great offers a sophisticated, satirical interpretation of Catherine the Great's rise to power in the Russian Empire. Set in the eighteenth-century aristocracy, it successfully blends historical facts with intentional anachronisms, showcasing Catherine’s evolution from a naïve outsider to a powerful, enlightened Empress. The series is notable for its sharp wit and deliberate anachronisms, transcending mere entertainment to provide a reflective commentary on societal and ethical themes. Crucially, The Great delves into the symbolic representation of animal treatment in the royal court, mirroring the era's hierarchical structures and ethical standards. It juxtaposes the archaic, often barbaric, practices against modern views on animal welfare, prompting audiences to reevaluate contemporary moral perspectives on human-animal relationships. This article aims to explore the complex interplay between ethical considerations and the human-animal relationship as depicted in The Great. It will examine the historical backdrop of animal treatment in the realm of eighteenth-century Russian nobility, contrasting with contemporary perspectives on animal treatment, and explore how the series utilises these contrasting viewpoints to stimulate viewers' introspection on our current societal ethics. “It is the way of things, a tradition for royalty”: The Great, and Eighteenth-Century Russia The Great, a satirical, pseudo-historical series, depicts Catherine the Great's ascent in Russia. It blends historical facts with fiction, showcasing her transformation within the eighteenth-century Russian court (see for instance Greenleaf). Known for its sharp humour and anachronisms, the series thoughtfully examines themes of power, gender dynamics, and societal evolution. A notable aspect is the portrayal of animal treatment as a symbol of the era's values and power structures, challenging viewers to contrast historical and contemporary societal norms. This article focusses on the ethics of human-animal relationships, as depicted in the series. The eighteenth-century Russian aristocracy's use of animals as power symbols reflected more than cultural peculiarities; it was an ingrained societal norm (Klemun, Loskutova, and Fedotova; Renner; Slezkine). Authors such as Cavender and Cartmill have noted that human-animal relationships, and in particular hunting, can symbolise dominance and social hierarchy, going beyond recreation or subsistence to signify human dominion over nature and societal status (Knoll). This historical backdrop is vividly brought to life in The Great, where scenes of aristocratic hunting and animal symbolism reflect these deeply ingrained societal norms.  “As we hunt, we shall discuss whether or not to kill the empress”: ‘Normal’ Royal-Animal Interactions The Great explores themes such as the abuse of power, the role of enlightenment in a traditional society, and the complexities of leadership and governance. The series uses character development to explore these themes, offering a satirical and insightful look at the societal and cultural dynamics of the time. The show often achieves this by playing with our expectations of how we believe monarchs should behave. For instance, in season one episode one, Peter is stalking through a forest followed by members of the court. Unlike typical royal hunts, Peter is hunting alone, not as part of a hunting party. Upon spotting a rabbit, he shoots, and misses (“The Great”, 1.1). We are used to royals hunting, and the hunt being analogous to the monarch's rule: a sign of strength, power, and dominion. But we are not used to them hunting poorly. A good monarch should be a good hunter. In this scene, we learn: one, Peter is alone with his alliances; and two, Peter is not a good emperor. While Peter and Catherine are walking through a forest hunting deer, Peter explains that “hunting is listening”, essentially saying that ruling is listening, to which Catherine retorts, “which is why you're so bad at it” (“The Bullet or the Bear”, 3.1). During the same scene, unbeknownst to both characters, Catherine’s longtime ally secretly hides in the bushes to assassinate Peter. Catherine, hearing a slight noise that Peter misses, fires into the bushes, inadvertently killing Orlo. Neither character realises what has occurred, and with Orlo later consumed by bears, the truth of the event is likely to remain unknown. As hunting is analogous with ruling, this scene is narratively important. For instance, Catherine is a better listener and therefore a better ruler, and merely listening does not always tell the full story. The connection between animals and ruling is extended to nature by Elizabeth, who explains to Peter on the cusp of a revolution: “I am going to the country for a week. I love to sit in nature and just watch it. It is beautiful, and sometimes harsh. But you realise, it is always right. That is what I know” ("The Beaver's Nose", 1.10). “If we had a philosophy, a criteria for action, I just wonder what a difference that would make”: Influences on Animal Perception in the Eighteenth Century In the eighteenth century, under the influence of thinkers like René Descartes, animals were perceived as mere automata, lacking consciousness or soul. This view, treating animals as emotionless machines, shaped the era's ethical attitudes towards animal welfare (Descartes). Contrastingly, modern perspectives show a significant shift, marked by an increased awareness of animal rights (Foster). Contemporary society has seen a rise in animal welfare advocacy, vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, and anti-cruelty legislation (Dawkins; Herzog et al.). The trend of recognising animals as sentient beings, especially pets as integral family members, reflects a major cultural and ethical transformation in human-animal relationships (Zuolo). This shift represents a departure from historical norms, highlighting a profound change in the way many people view animals. This change to recognising animals as sentient beings demonstrates an important difference between historical views and contemporary ethical perspectives. This transition in human-animal relationships sets the stage for exploring Allan G. Johnson's theories on societal systems and individual behaviours. Johnson's work delves into how societal structures shape personal actions and beliefs, offering a lens through which to examine the evolving societal attitudes towards animals and their treatment (Johnson Privilege, Power). “It's a barren wasteland of aloneness that you try to push us towards”: Johnson’s Societal Systems and Individual Behaviours This evolving attitude towards animals, characterised by increased empathy and ethical consideration, aligns with Allan G. Johnson's theories on the interplay between societal systems and individual behaviours (Johnson Privilege). Johnson's insights into how societal norms and structures influence personal actions and beliefs provide a framework for understanding the shift in how society views and treats animals. Allan G. Johnson's analogy of Monopoly and social systems offers an insight into the functioning of societal structures and individual behaviour (Johnson "People"). In his analogy, Johnson compares the societal system to a game of Monopoly, a board game where players accumulate wealth and property, often at the expense of others. In his analogy, Johnson demonstrates how greed is needed to win Monopoly, but this does not necessarily make one greedy. This analogy serves to illustrate how individuals, even without explicit malicious intent, can perpetuate inequality and injustice simply by playing within the rules of the prevailing system. Johnson's concept of the "path of least resistance" (Johnson Privilege, 86) refers to the natural human tendency to follow the course of action that requires the least effort or causes the least conflict. In societal terms, this path often aligns with existing norms, values, and structures, irrespective of their fairness or justice. By following this path, individuals, often unconsciously, reinforce and perpetuate the status quo. This analogy is powerful in demonstrating the social systems' influence on individual behaviour. It suggests that tackling societal issues like inequality and injustice requires more than individual goodwill; systemic change is necessary. Johnson's perspective encourages us to look beyond our actions and consider the systems that we are a part of. Johnson points out that the game itself might be flawed and by simply participating, we may be inadvertently supporting these flaws. “... have any of you read the latest Rousseau, The Social Contract?” Contractarianism in The Great, Ethical Frameworks, and Power Dynamics Viewing the historical fiction through contemporary moral sensibilities is tempting. Indeed, the blend of modern and historic elements invites the audience to do just this. However, it is crucial to understand that the characters in The Great are bound by the rules of their world. It prompts the question: under what ethical frameworks can we judge the ‘moral rightness’ of the characters' actions? One option is that The Great’s narrative situates Russian morality within a state of contractarianism, an ethical theory proposing that governmental authority derives from a hypothetical social contract among individuals. This concept is reflected in the depiction of eighteenth-century Russian society, particularly through its royal family, hierarchy and power dynamics (Rousseau; Hobbes). For contractarian philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, there are no intrinsic ethical imperatives. What is ethical and moral is decided by society and enforced through a social contract. The series illustrates a society bound by enforced rules and implicit agreements, aligning with contractarian principles. These 'contracts' shape the roles, behaviours, and expectations within the court, from the monarch to the commoners, reinforcing the existing ruling system (Hobbes). To the viewer, these rules appear absurd and often immoral. However, to the characters they are unquestionable norms. Catherine: “We cannot just burn fathers, mothers, and children alive.”Peter: “Yes, we can, they are serfs.” (“A Pox on Hope”, 1.7) Despite both representing contractarian views, Peter and Catherine represent two different approaches to contractarianism: firstly, as described by Hobbes, and secondly, by Rousseau. Peter leans towards Thomas Hobbes’s representation of the state of nature, a hypothetical scenario which illustrates the conditions of human existence without the constraints of social order or political authority. Hobbes, in his seminal work Leviathan, describes a state of nature as a state of war. “To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be unjust” (79). Within this state, “the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (78). As Catherine says, in a moment, this man's blood will gush and my husband will have blackened his soul and ours with it ... . And you will all be reassured that we are all alone and living at the whim of each other's pain and madness, that any moment could be your last, that there is no rhyme or reason to our lives. This is the Russia I try to leave behind. (“You the People”, 3.3) Jean-Jacques Rousseau's version of social contract theory, outlined in his work The Social Contract, is referenced by Catherine in the first episode. Rousseau posits that the social contract arises from the collective will of the people, emphasising the general will as the foundation of a just society. Rousseau envisions a state of nature as harmonious, asserting that social inequalities and corruption emerge through private property and societal structures. Rousseau's contractarianism underscores the importance of preserving individual freedoms while promoting a collective agreement for the common good, advocating for a society that aligns with the general will of its citizens. Although the rights of animals are never openly discussed, Catherine is trying to remake Russia into a more civilised place. When attempting to pass her anti-murder bill, she explains: We should live free of the state deciding our lives.Or as Voltaire said, “don't be fucking animals anymore, is the point. Simple”. (“You the People”, 3.3) Catherine’s role in The Great is to fight against the path of least resistance. Recognising that the entrenched societal norms are part of a social contract and not intrinsic ethical imperatives, from the moment Catherine arrives in Russia she begins attempting to change the status quo. This portrayal in The Great underscores the anthropocentric contractarian nature of societal interactions and governance, suggesting that characters’ actions, including their interactions with animals and each other, are influenced by the social contract of their era, and that, importantly, these contracts are not immutable (Rousseau). The show thus critiques historical social contracts, encouraging viewers to consider how social contracts underpin current societal norms, behaviours, governance, and contemporary ethics. Now we understand the setting for The Great and its ethical framework, we can begin to see not only how the use of animals throughout the series highlights the actions of the aristocracy, but how these actions invite us to reflect on our own human-animal relationships. “Am I the Empress of Russia or a gamekeeper?” Truffle Dogs, Moose Lips and Trained Butterflies Domestic animals are animals that have in some way co-evolved with humans, generally through selective breeding and/or genetic modification (Serpell). This relationship is distinctly different from taming. Taming is an individual process, not a genetic one. A tamed animal is a wild animal that has been acclimated to human presence and may be trained to tolerate human interaction, perform tasks, or exhibit less fear of humans. The domestic animals in The Great are mostly dogs and horses. Horses remain a monarchic symbol of status. Monika Greenleaf wrote about the real Catherine the Great that “a ruler masters her steed as she does the nation, with finesse, not brutality” (417). In The Great, horses are regularly ridden and used to pull carriages. But they also serve to highlight the brutality of war: Catherine: what is that smell?Velementov: Bodies, mud, horse shit, smoke of cannons. It is not a place for women. (“War and Vomit”, 1.5) The most famous use of a horse is in retelling the famous real-world rumour that Catherine the Great had sex with a horse (Solly). The incorporation of this rumour was used throughout the series to ridicule, demean, and frustrate Catherine as a leader. It simultaneously sets a taboo within the aristocracy and is used to shock the audience with our current societal laws and perception of bestiality. As a ruler, this act of bestiality is one of brutality and not finesse. Dogs are often used as familiar dual-purpose pets. Some of Peter’s dogs are working dogs, such as his truffle dog from Italy, while others appear to be mere companions. In season 1 episode 2 (“The Beard”), we are introduced to a form of raccoon-baiting, whereby a dog and raccoon enter a hollow log at opposite ends, fight through the centre, and to the delight of the court, only one animal exits. Peter’s dog Zeus is regularly seen around the breakfast table until his death in episode three of season one (“And You, Sir, Are No Peter the Great”). The court's interactions with wild animals strike a stark contrast to modern, Western sensibilities. Unique remedies and theories were utilised to show the prominence of the court in what society now sees as more modern-day personal or private matters, such as draping a dead mouse around Peter's neck to draw out toxins or placing a frog on Catherine's pregnant belly to determine when she will give birth. The court takes the opportunity during late pregnancy of the monarch to make some money, with different bets including the gender, whether the baby will be part horse (again ridiculing the leader), and if Catherine will die in childbirth. In addition to unconventional medicinal practices, the aristocracy indulges in peculiar culinary preferences, like raw pheasant or black bread with moose lips. Lady Svenska: Empress, you look radiant. We would love for you to join us. We have cakes in the shape of woodland animals, and it is a lark to dunk their faces in vodka and eat them.Catherine: It sounds interminable, Lady Svenska, so I shall pass. (“The Beard”, 1.2) Wild and domestic animals also appear in folk tales and allegories. When a crocodile is loose in the palace, the members of the aristocracy believe it to be an omen. Spurred on by the crocodile, characters recant stories of other animal omens, such as donkeys that vomit blood and a dozen white doves before the birth of a child.  There is an exotic relationship with tamed wild animals which represents the monarch’s dominion over beasts. Upon arriving in Russia, Peter gifts Catherine a bear, a gift Catherine had dreamed of receiving. However, Peter thoughtlessly shoots the bear mere moments later. Aunt Elizabeth has a mutual relationship between her animal companions. For instance, in an early episode we see Elizabeth training butterflies, the implication being that this is one of her absurd and childish quirks. However, in season three, we see that she has indeed trained a butterfly, subverting the audience’s perspectives on the natural world. “I feel bad, watching like this”: The Modern Audience's Response to Historical Animal Treatment The response of modern audiences to the portrayal of animals in The Great may involve discomfort and ethical scrutiny, as we are forced to simultaneously observe how animals are treated in the show through the lens of history and reflect on what is done now. Contemporary viewers, influenced by current norms and the animal rights movement, may find historical practices depicted in The Great to be morally troubling or unacceptable. Conversely, viewers might experience dissonance or a sense of exonerative comparison (sensu Bandura) watching the treatment of animals in the historical drama, believing we have come so far since the archaic on-screen period. Reflecting on personal and societal values through historical narratives and contemporary media, such as The Great, facilitates a critical reassessment of our moral compass and societal norms, in this instance the treatment of animals, and its broader ethical considerations. Contemporary media that contrast historical practices with modern ethics prompt introspection among viewers, encouraging them to evaluate the progression of our ethical standards and how these historical practices diverge from contemporary values (Frentzel-Beyme and Krämer). This introspection is vital for understanding the evolution of societal norms and aligning personal values with current ethical expectations. Furthermore, such introspection could transcend animal treatment, encompassing broader social justice, human rights, and environmental stewardship issues, advocating for a comprehensive perspective on progress towards a more compassionate and ethical society (Francione; Tamborini). The series' depiction of animal-related activities encourages viewers to question modern practices. It prompts us to explore our current societal contracts, examining why certain actions are acceptable and others are not. As viewers, we can ask what are the modern equivalences of Russia’s past behaviours. What is different about the royal hunting in the show, compared to royal hunting today? What makes duck liver or ox tail any less strange than moose lips? And, what leads us to believe that Elizabeth’s attempts to train butterflies are ridiculous? “The journey ends in the inescapable conclusion: Death”: Conclusion The Great not only explores the relationship between animals and royalty in eighteenth-century Russia, but also reflects on broader themes of power, status, and emotional connections with animals in royal life. It juxtaposes the regal and animalistic, probing the complex roles animals played in asserting dominance and luxury, alongside being subjects of affection. Incorporating Allan G. Johnson's insights, the series encourages viewers to reflect on the historical treatment of animals within the framework of societal systems and social contracts. Catherine's story is one of struggle for progress against the path of least resistance. This narrative highlights the ongoing conflict between old and new ways of thinking, symbolising her efforts to redefine the social contract. The Great challenges modern audiences to consider how these historical perspectives and practices resonate with contemporary attitudes towards animal welfare, urging a deeper understanding of human-animal relationships and ethical standards across different eras and cultures. This reflection is crucial for understanding the dynamics of societal norms and the subsequent impact on our current ethical viewpoints. References "The Great." The Great. Dir. Colin Bucksey. 2020. "The Bullet or the Bear." The Great. Dir. Matthew Moore. 2023. "The Beaver's Nose." The Great. Dir. Geeta Patel. 2020. "A Pox on Hope." The Great. Dir. Colin Bucksey. 2020. "You the People." The Great. Dir. Sheree Folkson. 2023. "The Beard." The Great. Dir. Colin Bucksey. 2020. "And You, Sir, Are No Peter the Great." The Great. Dir. Bert & Bertie. 2020. Bandura, Albert. "Impeding Ecological Sustainability through Selective Moral Disengagement." International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development 2.1 (2007): 8-35. Cartmill, Matt. A View to a Death in the Morning: Hunting and Nature through History. Harvard UP, 1996. Cavender, Mary W. "Hunting in Imperial Russia: State Policy and Social Order in L.P. Sabaneev's Writing." The Russian Review 76.3 (2017): 484-501. Dawkins, Marian. Animal Suffering: The Science of Animal Welfare. Springer Science & Business, 2012. Descartes, René. Discourse on Method. Hackett, 2012. Francione, Gary L. "Animal Rights and Animal Welfare." Rutgers Law Review 48 (1995): 397. Frentzel-Beyme, Lea, and Nicole C Krämer. "Historical Time Machines: Experimentally Investigating Potentials and Impacts of Immersion in Historical VR on History Education and Morality." Technology, Mind, and Behavior 4.1: (2023). 34. Greenleaf, Monika. "Performing Autobiography: The Multiple Memoirs of Catherine the Great (1756-96)." The Russian Review 63.3 (2004): 407-26. Herzog, Harold, Stephanie Grayson, and David McCord. "Brief Measures of the Animal Attitude Scale." Anthrozoös 28.1 (2015): 145-52. Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan or the Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill. The Green Dragon in St. Pauls Church-yard: McMaster University, 1651. Johnson, Allan G. "People, Systems, and the Game of Monopoly." 2013. 30 Jan. 2024 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rxL3ik9sJA>.   ———. Privilege, Power, and Difference. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Klemun, Marianne, Marina Loskutova, and Anastasia Fedotova. "Skulls and Blossoms: Collecting and the Meaning of Scientific Objects as Resources from the 18th to the 20th Centuries." Centaurus 60.4 (2018): 231-37. Knoll, Martin. "Hunting in the Eighteenth Century: An Environmental History Perspective." Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung 29.3 (109) (2004): 9-36. Renner, Andreas. "Progress through Power? Medical Practitioners in Eighteenth-Century Russia as an Imperial Elite." Acta Slavica Iaponica 27 (2009): 29-54. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Rousseau: The Social Contract and Other Later Political Writings. Cambridge UP, 2018. Serpell, James. "Pet-Keeping and Animal Domestication: A Reappraisal." The Walking Larder (2014): 10-21. Slezkine, Yuri. "Naturalists versus Nations: Eighteenth-Century Russian Scholars Confront Ethnic Diversity." Representations 47 (1994): 170-95. Solly, Meilan. "The Story of Catherine the Great." Smithsonian Magazine 2020. 30 Jan. 2024.  <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-catherine-great-180974863/>.    Tamborini, Ron. "A Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars." Media and the Moral Mind. Routledge, 2012. 43-74. Zuolo, Federico. "Dignity and Animals: Does It Make Sense to Apply the Concept of Dignity to All Sentient Beings?" Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 19 (2016): 1117-30. Acknowledgments We would like to thank three anonymous peer reviewers for their collegial and critical review of this article. Suggestions from reviewers have been incorporated into, and improved, the final version of this article. Huzzah!

“¡Abajo los médanos!”: Orígenes del conflicto entre dunas costeras y humanos en la ciudad de Veracruz (siglos XVI-XIX)

The aim of this article is to analyze, from the perspective of environmental history and of history of science, the relationship between médanos (coastal dunes) and humans in the city and port of Veracruz based on the sand removal project of 1880 and through following the conflict between both actors from the 16th to 19th centuries. This conflict had its origin in the construction of a negative vision of thecoastal dunes of Veracruz by colonizers, physicians and naturalists, which implied that this coastal ecosystem had to be destroyed due to being infertile, unhealthy (mainly associated with yellow fever) and hindering modernity. Thus, the configuration of the colonialist, Eurocentric and anthropocentric project of modernity is on the basis of the said negative vision. Through a methodology that combines following and the Actor-Network Theory, besides the use of various sources (press, correspondence, historical maps, a relación geográfica, medical treatises and studies and urbanistic and naturalist works), the collective of human and non-human actors involved in the mentioned conflict is recreated.

The Great Geographical Discoveries from the Perspective of Environmental History--A book report on The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange, the masterpiece of the American historian Alfred W. Crosby, is honored as the founding text for researches on environmental history, in which the author Crosby explored an environmental-history perspective that was novel at the time, re-examining the historic events in the Age of the Great Geographical Discoveries including Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas and Europeans' colonization there, and interpreting the history by virtue of exchanges and transitions of the environment and the creatures therein. From the perspective of historical research, this ecological-history perspective represented at that time a pioneering research progress.

CHARTING THE STAGES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY : ECOLOGICAL READING OF JAMES MICHENER’S HAWAI’I

This study analyzes James Michener’s Hawai’i to underline how the environment was changed, altered and transformed over time based on differing paradigms of conceptualizing nature and environment. It primarily focuses on how the Native Hawai’ians, American settlers and Chinese immigrants have contrasting ways of perceiving the more-than-human world. The stages of environmental history, as underlined by Worster and Cronon argue how the differing paradigm is intertwined within the cultural contexts and socio-historical circumstances of a particular ethnicity in Hawai’i. Their paradigm manifested through social reproduction resulting from the mode of production, either instrumentalising or respecting the land. Moreover, race, social status and gender also problematize how the environment is conceptualized. From the perspective of environmental history, the environment is positioned as dynamic and changing, contrary to a prior depiction of nature as passive and static. The finding suggests that environmental perspectives in the novel Hawai’i can provide an avenue to reinterpreting human and non-human relationships by considering humanity as part of the natural world.

Controlling the “Wilderness” Through a Rationalised Reindeer Husbandry: The Establishment of the Sámi Nomad School in Sweden, 1906–1917

This article discusses the Swedish nomad school system (nomadskola, 1913–1962), targeting the children of the reindeer herding Sámi, in an environmental history perspective. Earlier research has highlighted demographics (especially social Darwinism), national economy, and reform pedagogy as the ideological foundation of the nomad school system. This article shows that the fixing of a frontier between society and wilderness was at the confluence of all of these ideas. Reindeer as a vehicle for domesticating Arctic “wilderness,” furthering economic goals in peripheries, and modernising indigenous livelihoods has been noted in the North American and Russian/Soviet contexts, as well as in Scandinavia for the second half of the 20th century. This connection has not been explicitly made in the research concerning the early years of the nomad school system. The article concludes that the Swedish government did not have the expertise to control and economically exploit the “wilderness” of the high Scandes, but the reindeer-herding Sámi did. Swedish educational authorities launched the nomad school system in order to harness this expertise and make the reindeer herding livelihood more suitable to the needs of the Swedish economy.

Active Volcanoes, Active Imaginations: Fire-Spitting Mountains and Subterraneous Roars in the German Territories in the Summer of 1783

Abstract In the summer of 1783, a sulphuric, dry fog that lasted for several weeks covered much of Europe. As a result, the sun, moon and other celestial objects appeared 'blood-red'. Speculation in Europe was rife as to the cause of this unusual weather. In Iceland, the Laki fissure had erupted; from June 1783 to February 1784, it released the greatest volume of lava of any eruption on planet Earth in the last millennium. The ejected gases travelled to Europe and beyond via the jet stream. Unaware of the Icelandic eruption, some contemporaries from the German Territories hypothesised that the dry fog emanated from a local source, namely one or more supposed German volcanoes. This paper traces the reports of these 'eruptions' from the perspective of environmental history and presents translations of pertinent newspaper articles that have, for the most part, remained unstudied, in order to evaluate the possible reasons for the emergence of this idea.

Sandalwood and Human Beings: A Perspective of Environmental History

This study is to examine the interaction between humans and sandalwood from the perspective of environmental history. Sandalwood was originally an ordinary plant in nature, growing naturally. When it was discovered and used by human beings, sandalwood was brought into the world of human history. In the long history of human interaction with sandalwood, it has been placed on the consumption end, trade end, and production end, and has formed a good or bad relationship between man and nature. Based on historical documents, records and previous research results, this study uses the method of document analysis to explain the interactive relationship between human and sandalwood, so as to reveal the relationship between man and nature. We found that, the interaction between people and sandalwood has roughly gone through the stages of “the natural consumption of satisfying life”, “excessive consumption of chasing profit”, “protective consumption of promoting sustainable development”. It is also revealed that human beings constantly reflect on themselves and actively seek the sustainable way to live in harmony with nature.

Facing the Black Death: Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter in Times of Pandemics

At the end of Sigrid Undset’s medieval trilogy Kristin Lavransdatter (1920–1922), the heroine encounters the bubonic plague that so violently hit Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. The aim of this paper is to explore the connections between the 20th century novel and the European tradition of plague literature from the broader perspective of environmental history. Furthermore, it discusses the historical novel’s effect as a distant mirror for 20th and 21st century readers. An underlying argument is that the ethical imperative in Kristin Lavransdatter is affecting the way the protagonist encounters the plague, which may explain what distinguishes Undset from many of her contemporaries.

The Distribution Model and Spatial Structure of Market Towns in the Pearl River Delta during the Ming, Qing, and Min-Guo Periods: A Case Study of Taishan County

Previous studies have clarified that there are certain regularities in the spatial organization of traditional Chinese rural market towns as viewed from the perspective of the economic geography and local society. Nevertheless, the results of some studies concerning distribution patterns and factors influencing these patterns are contradictory, and there are few comprehensive analyses of the influence of interconnected variables. Taishan County in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province is used as an example, and the results of the identification of the distribution pattern of market towns within this county are determined as clustered by using the Voronoi method and the calculated coefficients of variation (Cv). The correlation between the market towns and the physical and social environment is quantified and illustrated through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), logistic regression analysis, and graphic methods, and the application of nuclear density change rates clarifies the development trajectory, which explains the phenomenon of market town clustering with ecological and cultural significance. Overall, the results indicate traditional preferences for sites characterized by low elevation, little slope, proximity to water, and productive agricultural land, while at the local scale, the spatial–temporal arrangement of market towns reflects partitioning and interactions between distinct clans. Further integrating the perspective of environmental history, we propose that the structural relationships of natural ecology, subsistence mode, and social organization crucially constitute the site selection and layout logic of market towns.

Exploration and Analysis of Educational History from the Perspective of Educational Environmental History and Environmental History.

The emergence of environmental historiography, for the first time, organically combined the history of the environment and human history and began to pay attention to the close relationship between human social changes and environmental changes. This paper explores the impact of environmental history on education from the perspective of environmental history. This paper explores and analyzes the history of the educational environment from the perspective of environmental history and studies the laws and characteristics behind the evolution of the relationship between education and environment. This paper analyzes the influence of environmental history on the three views of college students under environmental education. Further analysis of educational environmental history is improved to improve the three views of college students and promote the social development of research significance. The study of educational environmental history is of great significance to enlarge the field of educational history research, enrich the content of educational history research, and perfect the discipline construction of educational history. At the same time, the environmental perspective and ecological consciousness of educational environmental history research are the embodiment and adherence of Marxist historical materialism and environmental view.

Readings in Times of Crisis: New Interpretations of Stories about the Settlement of Iceland

The settlement of Iceland, at the end of the ninth century, has been vigorously discussed for decades by archaeologists and historians, place-name scholars, literary scholars, and theologians. Recently, the settlement has increasingly been examined from the perspective of environmental history, especially by archaeologists who have demonstrated how the settlement impacted the contemporary nature-culture dynamics. The literary sources describing the settlement have been used in various ways: sometimes as sources that have facilitated the finding and interpretation of archaeological material, and other times, they have been seen as irrelevant for understanding the actual historical settlement and have instead been regarded as evidence of sociopolitical issues during the thirteenth century when the texts were written. The main aim of this article is to add to this range of existing interpretations and to propose a new reading of the literary descriptions of the settlement of Iceland, based on the manuscripts where such stories are preserved, dating back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This period may be characterized as a time of environmental crisis, caused by the onset of the Little Ice Age at the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, and the Black Death, which first hit Iceland at the beginning of the fifteenth century. This article will discuss the relevance of the stories about the settlement during such times of crisis. This new interpretation, based on the transmission of settlement stories, does not negate the impact of the original settlement on the nature-culture dynamics in the ninth and tenth centuries, nor does it negate that the sagas were most probably written to respond to sociopolitical and perhaps environmental conditions of the thirteenth century, as argued by previous authors. Rather, we will investigate why the stories continued to be copied and read, and what their relevance may have been during the environmental crisis of the Late Middle Ages.To illustrate this discussion, we will focus here on the story of the settlement of Iceland as described in Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, composed in the thirteenth century and preserved in younger manuscripts from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The saga describes the settlement of southwestern Iceland, which has been excavated in major recent archaeological projects, such as the Mosfell Project and the Reykholt project. The “facts” of the settlement narrative—both archaeological and literary—are thus very well-known.I will begin the discussion by presenting what Egils saga, seen in comparison to a few other thirteenth-century literary sources, says about the settlement of Iceland. Second, I will turn to two paradigms of interpretations of these stories: the first concerning the nature-culture dynamics during the ninth–tenth century, and the second pertaining to the ecology of the thirteenth century. Third, based on the manuscript transmission of the saga, I will discuss whether a third interpretation is possible, one illustrating the nature-culture dynamics during the time when the manuscripts were produced, namely, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The article's aim is thus to discuss how literature and its transmission can illuminate various periods of the environmental history of Iceland, revealing both how people's activities may have impacted nature as well as how nature and environmental crises may have impacted what people needed to remember in order to deal with such crises. Even though the case-study and the main analysis pertain primarily to the meaning of medieval Icelandic literature, discussing possible new meanings of literature popular during environmental crises in the past may throw new light on literary, historical, and spiritual needs during other environmental (and pandemic) predicaments. Conclusively, the discussion leads to a few reflections on how the chosen method and source-critical premises condition what questions we may ask and what conclusions we may reach when conducting ecocriticism and environmental history.But before that, we will have a quick look at two contextualizing narratives: the first is a clarification of how environmental history is defined and conceived in this article, and the second concerns the major “facts” of the environmental history of medieval Iceland. Both of these serve as frames of reference for the subsequent reading of Egils saga and other texts.Acknowledging but further developing the seminal work of scholars like Donald Worster (1989) and the materialistic and dualistic view on nature-culture dynamics, most environmental historians today regard nature and culture as parts of a unified ecosystem (Cronon 1990; Schatzki 2003; Asdal 2003; Merchant 2010). Often inspired by Bruno Latour's actor-network theory and/or feminist theory, nature-culture relations may be defined as comprising ecology (energy, materials, resources), production (the usage of natural resources), reproduction (biological and cultural), and consciousness and attitudes (the way in which environment is perceived, understood, and interpreted) (Merchant 2010). Technology, society, and nature are seen as so bound together in history and as history that change in one of them results in simultaneous transformation of the other two. This theoretical development has also influenced archaeological theory, where nature is portrayed as a historical protagonist, and things, plants, and animals are credited with agency and personhood (Olsen 2010; Brunning 2013; Thomas 2015). According to this material, animal, post-humanistic turn in environmental humanities, humans are relational rather than exceptional beings (Rees 2017; Haraway 2003; Tsing 2015).The theoretical premises in environmental history have thus changed from crude Cartesian distinctions between nature as compared with society to theories of distributed agency where human and non-human entities have similar agency. However, the distinction between subject and object may be argued for, based on a very different ontology from Descartes's dualism and without denying that they belong to the same ecosystem (Hornborg 2017). According to Hornborg, the distinction between humans, other species, and things hinges on humans’ abilities for conscious awareness of their own agency and purpose. Non-living objects do not have agency, purpose, and intentions, but they can still have impact on their surroundings—they can constrain, be catalysts, and be attributed agency. Thus, things certainly have consequences, but not agency. Living organisms, plants, and animals, on the other hand, have agency, but do not have conscious awareness of it. The distinction between humans and other species lies in their awareness of their own agency. This is the same distinction as between symbolic as compared with non-symbolic phenomena, with language and culture being the primary tools of the symbolic. Hornborg shows that post-humanists delegate the responsibility of social and human-environmental relationships to things and other species, and may thus forget that they are often the authors behind these relationships. This reasoning implies that humans can also change their relation to nature, if they so choose.But how, and based on what premises do humans choose to change (or not) their practices and beliefs? How can they imagine the future (about their relationship to nature, for example)? What cognitive operations are activated in such processes? Such questions are discussed extensively by cognitive scientists and memory-scholars. According to Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner (2002), for example, humans make choices by blending, compressing, and decompressing a myriad of ideas, including memories of past selves and events, and current inspirations from other selves and environments (see also Turner and McCubbins 2018). When analogies are compressed in the blend, these form the core of a sense of identity; when disanalogies are compressed, there is a sense of a change of that identity. However, choices are not made based on stable parameters. Even when presented with the same choices, we may choose differently depending on our changing epistemologies and experiences. In any case, memories of the past are crucial for the creation of the present and for the imagining of the future.Cognitive scientists, such as Arnaud D'Argembeau et al. (2010), have also shown that remembering the past and imagining the future activate the same part of the brain. To bring something to mind demands a reconstruction that is not so unlike the construction our brain engages in when we imagine the future. Further, it is exactly our own past and the memory of the past that functions as a framework for our own creation, imagination, and simulation of the future. Knowledge of past selves and past relationships are essential in the creation of one's future self and relationships. Memory is not just a storage space; it is rather part of the cognitive system that makes it possible to think of the future; it is an integrated part of cognitive time travel.To sum up, the theoretical starting point for this article is that nature and culture form part of a unified ecosystem, but that humans distinguish themselves in this ecosystem because of their cognitive capacities to be aware of their own relationship to that ecosystem. Making choices in the present and imagining the future are, however, cognitively linked and conditioned by memories of past selves and relationships. What comes to the human mind in times of crisis is thus very relevant for understanding how one can deal with the crisis and how one can imagine the future after the crisis. This ability of the human brain is seen here as an essential and integrated characteristic of the unified ecosystem between nature and culture.Related to such theoretical discussions of the nature-culture dynamics, the contention within environmental history demands that research address changes in nature and changes in culture (or lack of these), and the relationship between them; that research should aspire toward interdisciplinary approaches that combine methods of hard sciences and the humanities; and that research on environmental history should have a wider geographical and temporal scale, including ancient and medieval times, which are crucial when studying environmental history, as that was when human modes of environmental relationships and institutions originated and developed (Hughes 2008; McNeill 2003; 2010).Following this brief review, in this article, nature and culture will be seen as part of a unified ecosystem, where humans’ awareness and ability to choose to change (or not) their relation to nature is conditioned by memories of the same relationship. This takes us to a presentation of the main milestones of the environmental—that is, both ecological and cultural—history of medieval Iceland before we turn to what the transmission of Egils saga can tell us about it. Thus, the following discussion of the environmental history of Iceland will be based on both archaeological and literary sources, as the former describe to a greater extent how the environment was actually used, while the latter reveal how the environment was thought of, how it was remembered and imagined.The environmental history of Iceland may be divided in two phases: the period of the actual settlement through the thirteenth century, including the introduction of Christianity and other important societal transformations, and the fourteenth century onward. The main dividing line, as vague as it may be, is the transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age. The time frame of the Medieval Warm Period varies depending on what region of Europe is discussed, but the years of roughly 1000–1300 were relatively warm and followed by times of instability characteristic of the Little Ice Age. For the North Atlantic area, this meant high solar irradiance, which set a positive pattern to atmospheric circulation variabilities. The Greenland ice core shows peak temperatures around the year 1000 with a very gradual cooling, reaching a low point in the fourteenth century. In general, the period brought stable seasonal patterns with warm summers, despite local variations. This would have influenced the growth of various crops, such as wheat and grapes, which are also referred to in Old Norse sources (Hoffmann 2014, 322–3).Culturally and politically, the period saw the settlement of Iceland, its Christianization, the development of the Free Icelandic State, and Iceland's submission to the Norwegian king in 1262–1264. The settlement and the prehistoric phase of the environmental history of Iceland have been studied in numerous archaeological projects, such as the Mosfell Project, the Reykholt project (Guðrún Sveinbjarnardóttir and Helgi Þorláksson 2018), the excavations of Hofstaðir in Mÿvatnssveit (Lucas McGovern et al. 2017), and in the Eyafjöll region (Buckland et al. 1991). Such recent research, combining methods from archaeology and the natural sciences, conveys the complexity of the settlement of the North Atlantic in the late Iron Age and the Viking period. A major contention in recent research is that while earlier studies have focused predominantly on how the settlement led to deforestation and soil erosion, over-exploitation of fragile ecosystems, unsustainable management of key resources, and the social-ecological disaster following the settlement, recent scholarship provides “a more complex understanding of long-term human ecodynamics” (Brewington et al. 2015, 1676).1 Some of the main questions in much of this research concentrate on whether the stewardship of land and resources was successful, or whether it failed, or was merely under development due to changes in the management of wild and domesticated animals.The gradual adaptation process may also be traced through the development of settlement in Iceland, which included “earliest establishments,” to “large farms” belonging to a second stage, and to “planned farms” belonging to a third stage (Egill Erlendsson et al. 2018, 167). These phases are detectable, for example, in the Reykholt area, which is very relevant as a plausible provenance of Egils saga. The abandonment of some farms in the area, such as Norðland and Hœgindi, would have changed the access to natural resources at Reykholt, which also continued to be among the wealthiest estates during the thirteenth century when the saga was written (Guðrún Sveinbjarnardóttir 2012, 267). In fact, many other farms mentioned in Landnámabók or the Icelandic sagas were definitely or most likely abandoned by the time the texts were written (Bjarni F. Einarsson 1994). Some of the best-known examples are the decrease in positions of estates like Bergþórshvoll and Hlíðarendi, homes of Njáll and Gunnarr from Njáls saga, which were still wealthy but not the centers of their respective regions during the late Middle Ages (Orri Vésteinsson 2007, 128–9; Adolf Friðriksson and Orri Vésteinsson 2003, 149–51).Christianization introduced a new ideology toward nature. According to the Bible, nature on earth was an environment created by God. Man, blessed with the faculty of work, was generally seen as assisting God in improving the earthly home prior to reconnecting with God in his blissful paradise for eternity. Knowledge of nature was considered to lead to greater understanding of God; nature proved the existence of God, his plan, and his truth. There were, of course, variations on these topics throughout the period, but all scientific disciplines, such as physics, biology, astrology, and geography, were developed based on this theology. In Medieval Europe, people were concerned with how they modified the created environment and recognized their agency in environmental change through the quarrying industry (to support the building of numerous cathedrals throughout Europe); clearing tracts of forests and woodlands for villages, monastic orders, and agriculture; land drainage; and intensification of technology (White 1967; Hoffmann 2014). Although this theology is well-known, it is difficult to know whether the new ideology in fact led to a change in the actual modes of using the natural resources and the environment.2To sum up: with a generally warm climate and an ideology that inspired humans to exploit natural resources, the environmental history in this phase may be characterized by a great degree of correspondence between availability, use, and attitudes to the environment. Supported by their religion, Christians had the right and agency to use what was available in their environment, but over time, they adapted their modes of exploitation, as well as the size and number of their settlements, due to changes in the environment that they themselves contributed to.The fourteenth century saw the advance of the Little Ice Age. Cold summers (a decrease in average temperatures of 2 degrees) and ice-growth started between 1275 and 1300 (Miller et al. 2012). Bruce M. S. Campbell (2016) calls the fourteenth century the century of great decay. In Iceland, this led to failure of cereal crops, probably contributing to a decrease in population and the isolation of Iceland from the sociopolitical center (Stone 2004). Even at Reykholt, where the climate was relatively favorable, cereal cultivation may have even ceased completely because of the drastic reduction in the number of day-degrees over the summers (Egill Erlendsson et al. 2018, 170). The effects of climate change were probably intensified and made even more complex due to other disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, as well as plagues (Riddell et al. 2018; Callow and Evans 2016). The fifteenth century saw two major outbreaks of plague in Iceland, one in 1402–1404 and one in 1494–1495, and it is believed that the first killed at least half of the population of the island and left many farms deserted. This must have had a grave effect on the intensity of the use of environmental resources as well as the production of documents (Riddell et al. 2018, 13).Politically, after the Free State (c. 930–1262/64), Iceland became part of a union with Norway. While this has been seen as a tragedy and loss of independence by a past generation of historians, more recent historians have avoided national bias in their interpretations (Jón Viðar Sigurðsson Orri Vésteinsson 2000; Helgi þorláksson 2005), and argue for a cultural and political continuity to a greater extent: the elite competed for royal offices, and some of the old structures still persisted, with slight alterations. The new division was not between royal officials and the rest of the population, but between farmers and the elite, whether royal officials or not (Wærdahl 2006; Sigríður Beck 2011). Administratively, fourteenth-century Iceland was similar to any late medieval state. While the economic base was different—sedentary-pastoral rather than agrarian—Iceland was otherwise like any other poor, remote medieval state, governed by a distant king through his leader of the retinue (hirðstjóri), sheriffs (sýslumenn), tax officials, lawmen, or judges (lögmenn), but was otherwise not very present and influential. The power lay in the hands of a few: landed gentry, church magnates, and royal administrators. Iceland produced annals, documents, and a great many manuscripts in the vernacular, which distinguishes it from other medieval states, such as those mentioned earlier (Orri Vésteinsson 2000, 4).The big “break” in Icelandic history came first in the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries: the union between Norway and Sweden in 1319 and the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in 1397, which left Iceland at the periphery to an even greater extent than previously; the plagues in 1402–1404 and 1494–1495 (see above); a few “Cod Wars” against England; and finally the halt in the writing of annals around 1430, only to be taken up anew in the mid-sixteenth century (Gunnar Karlsson 2003, 100–5). Even though few archaeological investigations document this late medieval period,3 there is a remarkable number of manuscripts from this period—some of which we will return to below—that may provide new insight into how people dealt with this environmental and cultural crisis.With this clarification of theory and short environmental history of medieval Iceland in mind, we may now turn to Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar, composed during the second quarter of the thirteenth century, which tells us of the settlement of southwestern Iceland. The main aspects of the settlement of Iceland in Egils saga may be summarized as follows:4(1) Kveld-Úlfr and his son Skalla-Grímr, respectively, the grandfather and father of Egil, sail toward Iceland on two ships. Kveld-Úlfr is about to die, and a storm, with heavy rain and fog, separates the ships. Skalla-Grímr settles down and takes the area between where his ship lands, and where the coffin of his dead father comes to land, as the latter has recommended, before his death, that his men settle where the coffin comes in (chaps. 27–28).(2) When Skalla-Grímr explores the land, he finds numerous resources: great marshland and wide woods, plenty of seal to hunt, and good fishing (Egils saga 1979, 72; Egil's saga2004, 49–50). There is lots of driftwood west of Mýrar.5 There are whales and wildlife—animals that were not accustomed to men and were therefore easy to catch. Skalla-Grímr plants crops and raises livestock, and the animals fatten as they roam the mountain pastures; the sheep also survive in the mountain valley. Skalla-Grímr has many resources to rely on, and lands are called after the natural resources found there: Andakíl and Andakílsá (duck canal/river), Hvítá (white river), Norðurá (the network of North river), Gljúfurá (chasm river), and Þverá (cross river).6 In short, the richness of the land is abundant, making settlement in such a paradisiacal place very promising. The paradise-like qualities of the land may be argued for not only based on the available resources listed above, but also because of the rich literary symbolism in the description of the very settlement, to which we will return in greater detail below.(3) Skalla-Grímr, as the first settler, is the main agent who distributes land to newcomers (chaps. 30, 39). Of course, through this process, Egill recreates the pattern of dominance in his relations to the people to whom he gives land. The saga explicitly mentions that it was difficult to calculate how many people could live off the resources that the land offered. In chapter 78, the narrator tells us that the district was completely settled, the original settlers had died, and their sons and grandsons were living in the district. Up to that time, the site has been described as peaceful, in stark contrast to all the contemporaneous conflicts surrounding land and property in Norway.(4) With the first generation of settlers dying out, the conflicts start to pertain to both the Icelandic existence and mind-frame. Reasonable distribution principles are a necessity, and potentially a cause to fight for, which is seen as an unavoidable side effect of the availability of abundant resources. Soon enough, a serious conflict arises between Egill's son Þorsteinn at Borg and a neighbor, Steinarr, concerning where the cattle are allowed to be herded (chap. 83). The conflict is to be resolved by their fathers, Egill and Ǫnundr. Ǫnundr explains that because of their lifelong friendship, he is interested in reconciliation and not interested in dishonoring Egill's son (Egil's saga2004, 193). Egill reminds Ǫnundr of the days when neither of them could have imagined that they would quarrel with each other (Egil's saga2004, 194). Egill may be referring to the fact that they traveled and fought together, but he may also be referring to an attitude toward land, sustainability, and human relationships that obviously belongs to the past—a past when there was a common understanding of modes of distribution and a respect for this common understanding. Steinarr's father agrees and asks that they claim the case from their sons, as they know better than to fight over land (Egil's saga2004, 194). When Egill is given the opportunity to pass judgment on the case, it becomes clear that his nostalgic appeal was part of a strategic plan. Egill reminds everyone that it was his father who was the first settler and how he gave land to his friends when they came to settle. His judgment that Steinarr must leave his land only escalates the conflict. The settlement, originally founded using the guidance of storms and drifting coffins, is now portrayed as an intentional process that gives rights and power to the first-comers. The paradise-like site of abundance has now become a site of law, politics, and economy.(5) The last element that seems to influence the utilization of environment is Christianization, as described briefly in chapters 88–89. With the introduction of Christianity, Grímr from Mosfell is baptized and builds a church there (chap. 89). The saga refers to an oral narrative about Egill's bones being moved twice—from the burial mound at Tjaldanes, where he was originally buried, to the first church that Grímr built at Hrísbrú, which was then taken down and set up at Mosfell. Þorsteinn is also said to have received Christianity at Borg, where he builds a church and is himself later buried.The grand narrative of the settlement in Egils saga may thus be seen as a gradual development with three stages. In the beginning, the site of the settlement is conveyed as a supernaturally preconditioned “choice,” which positions human existence in a paradisiacal abundance and richness. Although the distribution of the land is done according to existing social relations, peace and harmony seem to be inert characteristics of the settled land. Slowly but surely, more complex human relationships and new versions of reality turn it into a site for competitiveness, power, and resource struggles, as well as legal discourse and politics. It is the heirs of the first settlers who have the upper hand in deciding such conflicts. The memory of the original settlement is thematized in the saga itself, and the saga makes it clear that various versions of the stories are simultaneously possible. Finally, the land is Christianized, churches are built, and bodies are moved from sites predetermined by nature to sites defined by the vicinity of God's house. Man's attitude to and use of landscape and nature develops in the saga from being represented as a natural symbiosis between man and nature to a relationship stirred by human politics, economy, and the new religion. Note that Christianization in itself is not claimed to have caused a change in the use of the resources immediately, as the farm and church are moved at a later stage, without much explanation in the saga.Since Egils saga tells us of the settlement at the end of the tenth century, some scholars have interpreted it as reflecting the environmental history of this period. This is, for example, the argument found in publications resulting from the Mosfell Archaeological Project, which focuses on the settlement of the same area, that is, southwestern Iceland. The project has employed the tools of history, archaeology, anthropology, forensics, environmental sciences, and saga studies, and its main aim has been to seek an understanding of how the countryside and landscape in this area evolved since the original settlement (Zori and Byock 2014).7 Sagas such as Egils saga are, in this project, read as historical documents, and their historicity is explained by existent oral tradition and place names, which inherently carry the stories in them. The project's leader, Jesse Byock, argues that it is necessary to employ “all available tools of analysis including history, literature, naming systems, local oral tradition, and scientific archaeology,” as well as modern high-tech archaeological methods of dating, such as tephrochronology (dating of volcanic ash-layers), radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, and artefact typology, which give independent dating of the sites, corresponding to the dates suggested by the saga (Byock 2014, 30–1).From the perspective of environmental history, and for us here, the most relevant results of the project, as they confirm the “facts” of the saga, include the time frame of the settlement and its positioning and movement in the landscape; the natural resources used at the settlement (types of wood, plants, archaeofauna); and the culture of economy, production, and reproduction at the settlement.Some of the most important archaeological structures excavated during the project include, among others, a large longhouse from the settlement period, abandoned early to mid-eleventh century, a conversion-age church, and a tenth- to eleventh-century Christian graveyard, with mixed pagan and Christian ritual elements at Hrísbrú (Byock and Zori 2014, 7–10). This site is located on the slope of Mosfell Mountain and is the original Mosfell settlement, referred to as Hrísbrú in the sagas. It has a strategic location with abundant freshwater springs, control over the western entrance of the whole valley, and a direct line of sight to the port at Leirvogur. In the twelfth century, the farm was moved 500 meters to the east. The project also excavated the new site and discovered the foundations of a medieval church, probably the new church mentioned in Egils saga. According to the saga, Grímr built the first church at Hrísbrú, and he moved Egil's bones there, and later a new church was built at Mosfell. The project localizes this church and a longhouse about 100 meters west of the farmhouse still standing there today. The reasons for this movement were probably complex: push-factors included the weather conditions at Hrísbrú (rather windy) and the change

Community-led land management: historical perspectives, future prospects

ABSTRACT This study introduces community-led land management (CLLM) as a unifying concept, drawn from an environmental history perspective, that both researchers and community members might use in analysis and reflection on land management activities carried out by communities in connection with place. By exploring the histories of three otherwise disparate case studies in south-western Australia – a catchment group, an Indigenous ranger group and an urban bushland friends group – we draw attention to common attributes of community leadership and co-operative, hands-on work in and for a defined geographical area. These case studies also suggest a trend toward increasingly structured controls within the movement, with neoliberal regulation and accountability tending to obscure community origins. While inclusive of many landcare activities, CLLM can be understood as a broader social movement covering diverse groupings, where communities continue both to lead and apply their place-specific knowledge and labour. This social movement is of crucial importance for effectively tackling the escalating environmental problems in Australia and elsewhere.

Environments ofItalianness: for an environmental history of Italian migrations

Italian mobility played a fundamental part in the history of the peninsula, since it was a global phenomenon reaching every continent except Antarctica. The Italian diaspora counted over 26 million expatriates who left the country between 1876 and 1976 and, to date, Italy remains one of the states that has contributed the most to the Great European Migration. Although impressive, these figures do not take into account pre-unitary Italian mobilities or Italian settlements in colonial territories. By adopting the perspective of environmental history of migration, this collection of essays allows us to consider various contextually embedded migratory environments, creating a means to find common constitutive features that allow us to explore and identifyItalianness. Specifically, in this special issue, we intend to investigate how Italians transformed remote foreign environments in resemblances of their distant faraway homeland, theirpaesi, as well as used them as a means of materially re-imagining landscapes ofItalianness. In return, their collective and individual identities were transformed by the new surroundings.

The Nature of Legitimacy: Representations of the Natural World in Iskandar Beg Munshi’s Tārīkh-e ʿĀlam-ārā-ye ʿAbbāsī

This article examines history-writing in Safavid Iran and, in particular, the notable chronicle from the time of Shah ʿAbbas I, the Tārīkh-e ʿĀlam-ārā-ye ʿAbbāsī (TAAA). It rethinks Safavid history-writing via the perspective of environmental history. This article asks, “How was the natural world represented in the chronicle, and in what way did this representation shape the Safavid historical narrative?” It argues that the ways in which the TAAA portrays human encounters with nature suggest ʿAbbas’ unique sovereignty over it. Because of his piety and devotion, he was considered blessed with divine grace, making him the only human being with the ability to regulate natural manifestations—that is, to dominate, to manipulate, to survive, and to contain nature. Against a backdrop of an absence of environmental readings of Safavid history, the article suggests looking at the TAAA’s representation of this natural world as a powerful legitimizing force for ʿAbbas’ reign, as it is one that has not yet been foregrounded.

Extractivismo marino-colonial. Apropiación asimétrica de recursos marinos en el golfo de California (México) siglos XVI-XXI

En la península y en el golfo de California, el proceso de conquista colonial impuso un proceso de antropización-colonización de la relación sociedad-naturaleza a lo largo del tiempo moderno y contemporáneo. Desde el siglo XVI, este cambio se implementó mediante la inserción de los recursos naturales terrestres y marinos disponibles en el territorio sudcaliforniano en el marco de la Economía Mundo. La península y el golfo de California se vieron sometidos a un proceso, a largo plazo, de saqueo y despojo territorial que denomino “Apropiación Asimétrica” (que se traduce en una línea temporal de cuatro momentos históricos, algunos coetáneos, desde el siglo XVI al siglo XXI). En el primer momento de esta línea temporal, se describe en el texto cómo la Corona transfirió, mediante diversos sistemas de cesión territorial, el control de recursos (perlas, acuacultura, guano, sal, etc.) hacia empresarios privados encargados de extraer el capital natural para comercializarlo en mercados globales entre el siglo XVI y el siglo XX. Esta capitalización/privatización de recursos costeros-marinos a lo largo del siglo XX se evidenció en un proceso de especulación financiero territorial, orientado al desarrollo del turismo de masas como eje del modelo de desarrollo económico (tercer y cuarto momento histórico de la Apropiación Asimétrica que se analiza en el texto. La propuesta de metodología de investigación parte del trabajo que desarrollamos en el campo de la Historia Ambiental, entendida como estudio sobre las relaciones entre sociedad y naturaleza a lo largo del mundo moderno y contemporáneo, estudiado mediante el análisis de los documentos archivísticos y bibliografía de coetáneos, viajeros o documentos institucionales. Esta propuesta metodológica supone el estudio de los cambios territoriales, ambientales y socioeconómicos junto al impacto de los mismos en el capital natural del territorio sudcaliforniano, procesos que generan conflictos y luchas contra el extractivismo y despojo como modelo económico. Desde el campo de la Historia Ambiental, el concepto de extractivismo es definido como transferencia de bienes naturales de manejo comunitario hacia la esfera del mercado, enajenados los pueblos y beneficiados sectores empresariales con este proceso de privatización. De igual manera, el concepto de apropiación asimétrica implica la identificación de cómo la transferencia verificada mediante el extractivismo y despojo territorial impacta sobre la arquitectura del modelo de desarrollo económico generando episodios y realidades de injusticia ambiental, dando lugar a importantes desequilibrios territoriales. Estos desequilibrios territoriales tienen una matriz histórica que la Historia Ambiental permite narrar como un contínuum, pero que como práctica de colonización del territorio llega hasta inicios del siglo XXI como demuestra el estudio del impacto del capitalismo financiero en Baja California.

Re-evaluating the Wokou Problem in East Asia During the 1220s and 1390s from the Perspective of Environmental History

Re-evaluating the <em>Wokou</em> Problem in East Asia During the 1220s and 1390s from the Perspective of Environmental History

At the Edge of Resilience: Making Sense of COVID-19 from the Perspective of Environmental History

Natural disasters nearly always catch societies by surprise, even though in hindsight historians invariably conclude that being caught off-guard in this way was in fact unfounded as both the existence of the natural hazard which caused the disaster, and the societal conditions making communities vulnerable to the hazard, were clearly present before the event. Both experts and the general public also, again in hindsight, suddenly discover that similar hazards and disasters had previously occurred in the past. In many cases, however, the memory of these precursors had faded or seemed irrelevant because the context had changed so dramatically. When future historians come to write the history of the COVID-19 pandemic currently unfolding, therefore, it will probably resemble the history of other major natural, socio-natural or socio-techno-natural disasters - whether pandemics, earthquakes, tsunamis or nuclear catastrophes (Van Bavel et al. 2020). In retrospect, COVID-19 will become a subject which seems quite familiar to environmental historians used to unravelling the complex and hazardous entanglements of society and nature. What can environmental history offer at this moment, however, when the disaster - crisis or hazard - is still unfolding?

The Journey of the Grand Embassy through Livonia and the Great Famine of 1696–97

The article examines the journey of Tsar Peter I's Grand Embassy through Livonia in spring 1697 in the context of the climate crisis of the 1690s that was a culmination of the Little Ice Age. This is clearly one of the less studied episodes in Peter's life though the events in Riga played a tremendous role in his subsequent actions. The article argues that an environmental history perspective on the journey may offer deeper explanations of the offences and incidents that the embassy and Peter had allegedly to suffer in Livonia and Riga. In this fashion the article shows that it was a real environmental challenge to pass through Livonia at that time of year in 1697, which coincided with the culmination of the Great Famine of 1696–97, one the worst famines in the history of that region. Although the Governor-General of Livonia had repeatedly warned the Russians before their arrival in Livonia that the land was suffering from a great lack of food, forage and horses, the delegation and the tsar still felt insulted by the supposed lack of hospitality and the high prices for the provisions they required in Livonia. This was to become one of the pretexts for Moscow's declaration of war against Sweden in 1700.

Da Serra dos Cavalos ao Vale do Ipojuca (Caruaru/PE): águas e história ambiental no semiárido brasileiro

Os núcleos urbanos no semiárido brasileiro apresentam memórias, trajetórias, histórias da dramaticidade dos desafios de abastecimento de água. No agreste de Pernambuco, região de maior déficit de balanço hídrico do estado, encontra-se a sedenta cidade de Caruaru, que, no período de um século (1916-1983), vivenciou os percalços da hidratação dos projetos de expansão, inicialmente a partir do curso natural do rio Ipojuca como fonte primeira, posteriormente nos elevados das fontes na Serra dos Cavalos. As disputas com distintas concepções de soluções e os conflitos entre os diferentes usos deixaram as marcas no caminho, nas relações dos diferentes sujeitos com as águas. O artigo elaborou-se com base em registros documentais normativos da municipalidade, textos jornalísticos, de escritores locais e em diálogos com relatos de memórias de moradores por meio de entrevistas em uma abordagem na perspectiva da História Ambiental.

Fruits of Empire: Figs, Raisins, and Transformation of Western Anatolia in the Late Nineteenth Century

Abstract This study discusses from the perspective of environmental history the role of fig and grape cultivation in the development of Izmir into the first gateway city of the Ottoman Empire. From the 1870s on, figs and raisins were together a dynamic force promoting the opening up of hitherto unexploited areas of Western Anatolia to commercial agriculture. Fig trees and vines were commercially grown almost everywhere in the region, from the edge of the waters of the Mediterranean to the hilltops. Rural residents reclaimed large tracts of wasteland for planting figs and vines, while the quantity of figs and raisins annually exported amounted to thousands of tons as the introduction of railroads, formation of commercial networks, and development of processing, packing, and shipment operations facilitated their production and trade. The expansion of fig and grape growing was an integral part of the process of Western Anatolia's integration into the market economy and is demonstrated by the railroads, stations, warehouses and packing units found in Izmir and its hinterland. Figs and grapes attracted foreign capital investment and technology, promoted trade and stimulated the movement of people across the region. The expansion of fig and grape cultivation created seasonal employment for thousands of men and women in the city and countryside. In short, fig and grape growing across Western Anatolia had a profound impact on the region's human and natural landscape.