The making of the American landscape / / edited by Michael P. Conzen

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910815429303321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York : , : Routledge, , 2010
• ISBN: 1-317-79370-6; 1-315-81082-4
• Edizione: [Second edition.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (568 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): ConzenMichael P
• Disciplina: 304.20973
• Soggetti: Human geography - North America; Human geography - United States; Landscape changes - North America; Landscape changes - United States; Nature - Effect of human beings on - North America; Nature - Effect of human beings on - United States
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Preface to the Second Edition; Acknowledgements; Table of Contents; Foreword to the First Edition; Introduction; 1 Recognizing Nature's bequest; Climates; The physiographic layout; Natural regions; The Far West; The Central Interior; The East; 2 Retrieving American Indian landscapes; Adapting to new environments; Toward an agricultural landscape in the East; Pueblo and irrigation agriculture in the Southwest; The European intrusion; The surviving legacy; 3 Refashioning Hispanic landscapes; Spanish exploration; Populating the land; Shaping the bordersSpanish legacy; 4 Retracing French landscapes in North America; Footholds on the continent; The core landscapes of New France; The French crescent: St. Lawrence to the Mississippi; The legacy; 5 Americanizing English landscape habits; An American version of England; A different sort of place; A different sort of people; Two regions of the Northeast; The New England culture region; The Pennsylvania culture region; The two landscapes of the Northeast: differences in vernacular architecture; Barns and other rural matters; Urban forms; The cultural-geographical baggage goes west6 Transforming the Southern plantation; Establishment of plantation agriculture in continental North America; The ""Old South"" plantation; The ""New South"" plantation; Toward the modern plantation; The increase of fragmented mega-farms; 7 Gridding a national landscape; A system to span the continent; Single farmsteads; Townsites; The section roadscape; The conservation landscape; Toward a national landscape; 8 Clearing the forests; The landscape of clearing; The landscape of logging; The landscape of fuel gathering; The balance sheet; 9 Remaking the prairiesVegetation and settlement; Migration patterns; The western Plains; Town settlement; Conclusion; 10 Watering the deserts; Finding the desert; Transforming the desert: looking at dams and ditches; The prehistoric legacy in central Arizona; Hispanic settlement in the Rio Grande Valley; The Mormon desert; Federal transformation of the Colorado River; Conclusions; 11 Inscribing ethnicity on the land; Why here and not there? The shaping of early ethnic landscapes; Enduring rural and small town landscape features; Ethnic cityscapes; Ethnic tourism and ethnic heritage landscapesAnd what of the future?; 12 Organizing religious landscapes; The mainly metropolitan churchscape; Matters architectural; The rural scenes; The other structures; Cemeteries; Signs; Envoi; 13 Mechanizing the American earth; Colonial beginnings; Emergence of the manufacturing belt; Specialization in core and periphery; The blend of old and new; 14 Building American cityscapes; The economic landscape; Social landscapes; Governance and the landscape; The American way; 15 Asserting central authority; The early federal presence; Federal landscape influence after the Civil War
• Sommario/riassunto: The only compact yet comprehensive survey of environmental and cultural forces that have shaped the visual character and geographical diversity of the settled American landscape. The book examines the large-scale historical influences that have molded the varied human adaptation of the continent's physical topography to its needs over more than 500 years. It presents a synoptic view of myriad historical processes working together or in conflict, and illustrates them through their survival in or disappearance from the everyday landscapes of today.