A New Face on the Countryside: Indians, Colonists, and Slaves in South Atlantic Forests, 1500-1800

by Timothy Silver

Book Overview

In this book, Timothy Silver traces the effects of English settlement on South Atlantic ecology, showing how all three cultures--Indian, European, and African--interacted with and were, in turn, affected by, their changing environment. In assessing such ecological changes, Silver pays particular attention to regional variations, explaining how local geography and settlement patterns influenced the environment. And while his focus is the English South,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521387396
• ISBN13: 9780521387392
• Release Date: July 1990
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Environmental Perspective on Socially Diverse Region

Throughout A New Face on the Countryside Timothy Silver presents the American South as a diverse and unique mix of cultures then-unseen in the New World. Using specific examples from a large variety of sources, Silver examines the contributions and conflicts of several ethnic and colonial groups including English, French, and Spanish settlers as well as reviewing the impact of African slave labor and Native American tribes. One of the major themes seen throughout A New Face on the Countryside is not only the clash of cultures, but the interaction of these very different groups with a very similar and unforgiving environment. Silver begins his examination of the aforementioned interaction by discussing the unique qualities of American Southern geography. By identifying what he believes to be the natural "borders" of the Southern region, Silver systematically breaks down the characteristics that have made the area so troubling, and profitable, for the parties involved. Using the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Appalachian Mountains on the West, the Okefenokee on the South and the Chesapeake Bay Region in the North, Silver discusses the boundless supply of wildlife and sultry hot climate most conducive to agricultural production. The next section is used to identify the peoples of the region. Silver discusses the diverse societies of Native Groups in the region, claiming that "Europeans found the division of labor within Indian society even more difficult to comprehend." (44) Silver gives high praise to the Indians' efficient methods by citing that some groups, according to Captain John Smith, lived almost exclusively on fish in the summer months. The author claims that ideas of conservation and waste would not be readily understood in the Indian psyche and that "Indians simply did what was necessary to ensure their survival." (66) Following an examination of European arrival, Silver begins his examination of the altered landscape of the American South. "A more civil landscape, it seems, had its price." (185) Silver's writing explains that although the European settlers did ultimately have success in farming, there was a great price to be paid including many lost crops, broken dreams, regional diseases and labor issues. Silver claims that "even as colonists, Indians, and Africans were changing the land, the land was changing them." (194) It is the subsequent discussion that proves to have the most impact when further evaluating A New Face on the Countryside. Timothy Silver is a professor of history at Appalachian State University. After receiving his Ph.D. from the College of William and Mary, Silver was subsequently hired at Appalachian State where he went on to publish two books. His first book published in 1990, A New Face on the Countryside: Indians, colonists, and slaves in South Atlantic forests, 1500-1800, was followed later by Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America in 20