Anyone curious as to
how at least the more educated of those Europeans who colonized this continent viewed
its natural environment and native inhabitants might want to take a look at William
Robertson’s 1777 History of America. For instance:
The labour and operations of man not
only improve and embellish the earth, but render it more wholesome, and
friendly to life. When any region lies
neglected and destitute of cultivation, the air stagnates in the woods, putrid
exhalations arise from the waters; the surface of the earth, loaded with rank
vegetation, feels not the purifying influence of the sun; the malignity of the
distempers natural to the climate increases, and new maladies no less noxious
are engendered. Accordingly, all the
provinces of America, when first discovered, were found to be remarkably
unhealthy (Robertson
1777:Book IV:17).
The
colonizers had their work cut out for them – get to work and embellish the
continent, render it wholesome and friendly to life. We can all agree, no doubt, that they were
very effective, and we’ve all followed proudly in their footsteps.
Robertson, William
1777 The History of America. London, A. Strahan. See http://books.google.com/books?id=_ONOAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22William+Robertson%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7lXZUpKDM5fKsQSmoILIAw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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