Cultivated Landscapes of Middle America on the Eve of Conquest (Oxford Geographical and Environmental Studies Series) - Hardcover

Whitmore, Thomas M.; Turner, B. L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199244537 ISBN 13: 9780199244539

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

The human-environment conditions in the Americas on the eve of the sixteenth-century European conquest have of late attracted growing interest in both academic and public circles. Focusing on Middle America, this book completes a trilogy which has made the most comprehensive survey ever achieved of pre-Colombian agriculture and culture throughout the continents. It addresses the question of what lands were permanently occupied; how they were used; and what the environmental and social implications of this use were. The answers to these questions are central to such wide-ranging themes as indigenous land rights, the conservation and preservation 'ethic' of these native people, and the global carbon cycle. The kind, scale, and location of land use is documented and mapped in detail. The book not only demonstrates the sophistication of the agricultural landscapes and their local integration, but also investigates the omissions and land degradation of the native agriculturalists. Drawing on this wealth of data the authors make a stimulating contribution to the debate about resource, land, and population in the Americas.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr Whitmore is director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Geography, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill: secretary/treasurer of the Cultural Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. Professor Turner is a former Guggenheim Fellow, Senior Fellow of the Green Center for the Study of Science and Society, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Delivered the Clarendon Lectures in Geography and Environmental Studies on 'Integrated Land Change Science: The Yucatan Case' in Oxford, November 2000.

Review:

...a powerful reminder of how complex and sophisticated cultural modifications to the environment were in this time period and how the ebb and flow of civilizations transformed landscapes in Middle America. * Martha Works, Portland State University, Oregon * This is a major contribution to the literature and an essential reference for those with interest in the religion and era. * Martha Works, Portland State University, Oregon * This book is the most complete and comprehensive synthesis of indigenous Middle American cultivation that I know of. The thirty-eight page bibliography alone is worth the purchase price. * Journal of Anthropological Research * Whitmore and Turner have produced a very good read. Their work will stand for a long time as a benchmark of thoughtful and comprehensive synthesis that takes stock of our present understanding and points the way to fruitful future research in archaeology, geography, ecology, ethnobotany, ethnography, and history. * Journal of Anthropological Research *

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0199244537
• ISBN 13: 9780199244539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 338