The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920The Destruction of the Bison explains the decline of the North American bison population from an estimated 30 million in 1800 to fewer than 1000 a century later. In this wide-ranging, interdisciplinary study, Andrew C. Isenberg argues that the cultural and ecological encounter between Native Americans and Euroamericans in the Great Plains was the central cause of the near-extinction of the bison. Drought and the incursion of domestic livestock and exotic species such as horses into the Great Plains all threatened the Western ecosystem, which was further destabilized as interactions between Native Americans and Euroamericans Sreated new types of hunters in both cultures: mounted Indian nomads and white commerical hide hunters. In the early twentieth century, nostalgia about the very cultural strife which first threatened the bison became, ironically, an important impetus to its preservation. |
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The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750–1920 Andrew C. Isenberg Limited preview - 2000 |
The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 Andrew C. Isenberg Limited preview - 2000 |
The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 Andrew C. Isenberg No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
American Bison Society American Fur Company animals Annual Report Arikaras Arkansas River Assiniboines Atsinas bands beaver bison hunting bison population bison robes Bison Society Papers Blackfeet Blackfoot blue grama Brulé Buffalo Catlin cattle Cheyennes Comanches commercial Crows cultural Dakota Denig destruction disease Dodge City domestic drought Early Western Travels ecological economic eighteenth century Environmental History epidemic equestrian nomads European extinction Five Indian Tribes forage frontier fur trader grass grasslands groups herds Hidatsas hide hunters high plains Hornaday horses hundred Ibid Indians and Euroamericans John Kansas killed Kiowas Mandans meat Mexico migrated Missouri River Montana Nebraska Press nineteenth century nomadic societies North America northern plains number of bison Oglala Pawnees percent plains environment plains nomads prairie preservationists preserve ranchers resource River valley robe trade Sioux slaughter smallpox social South southern species subsistence summer Tabeau Texas thousand University of Nebraska University Press Upper Missouri villages West western plains wild wrote Yellowstone York