Modern American historiography on the colonial history of New Plymouth and Massachusetts in the 17th century: environmental dimension

Environmental history has become a significant trajectory for the development of historical science over the past few decades. This article discusses environmental history as one of the leading research directions in modern American historiography of the first colonial settlements of New England: New Plymouth and Massachusetts. The author identifies and characterizes key trends in modern American historiography that are aimed at studying the first English colonies in New England in the context of environmental history. The author conducts research based on the works of American historians devoted to the history of New England of the XVII century and published in the 2000-2010s. The author demonstrates how the use of environmental history approaches allows us to interpret long-standing questions of American history: the history of relations between colonists and Indians through of their perception of the surrounding world; the genesis of colonial settlements and the evolution of architecture in the context of the climatic and geographical features of the region. Moreover, the author shows how the use of environmental history strategies led to the emergence of fresh problematic perspectives in the study of the history of New Plymouth and Massachusetts. One of them is the history of the ocean as an integral component of a historical ecosystem. The author draws attention to how the inclusion in the panorama of the past history of the ocean made it possible to reveal the connection between the involution of the marine and coastal ecosystems of the Old World and the beginning of the development of the northeast Atlantic. One of the directions of environmental history is the study of natural «places of memory» in the culture of the Indians, as a symbolic manifestation of the interaction between man and the environment. The author believes that the appeal to the theme of symbolic forms, which were reflected in Indian legends, contributes to the disclosure of alternative written tradition of European settlers of first colonies. Another trend in environmental history is the history of epidemics. The author notes that at present in American historiography there is a discussion around the issue of the depopulation of the indigenous population of the region, which coincided with the onset of European colonization. Today, American historians are inclined to understand epidemics as a systemic and multifactorial phenomenon, avoiding the use of deterministic concepts in their study. Summarizing, the author concludes that the American tradition of environmental history demonstrates the successful experience of revealing hidden and implicit interconnections formed within ecosystems.

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