Taming the Waterways: The Europeanization of Southern Québec's Riverside Landscapes During the 16–18 Centuries

The arrival of Europeans in the New World effected the interaction of 2 temperate biogeographical eco-zones: the Palaearctic and Nearctic. Alfred Crosby has hypothesized that the success of the Europeans as imperialists was due, in part, to the ability of their introduced biota to bring about the collapse of the indigenous populations and local ecosystems, leading to the formation of Neo-European eco-spaces. Through a comparison of paleontological and environmental archaeological data from southern Québec, Canada, we examined Crosby’s ecological imperialism model and assessed the biological impact of colonialism on the physical landscape during the 16 to early 18 centuries. The Intendant’s Palace site in Québec City is employed as a case study and diachronically contextualized with data from contemporaneous sites in the region. The Europeanization of the landscape as a result of settlement construction, subsistence, and commodification was evidenced through signs of deforestation as well as the arrival of socioeconomic taxa. The biological transfer of European species did not appear to herald the collapse of local ecosystems but rather the establishment of an ecological melting pot along the early colonial waterways of southern Québec. Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK. Corresponding author [email protected]. Introduction Jan. 29, 1856 ... It is observable that not only the moose and the wolf disappear before the civilised man, but even many species of insects, such as the black fly and the almost microscopic “no-see-em”. How imperfect a notion have we commonly of what was the actual condition of the place where we dwell, three centuries ago! Henry David Thoreau (Blake 1887:286–287). Millions of years ago, continental drift drove the Old World and New World apart, separating Eurasia and Africa from the Americas. Over time, this geographic isolation fostered divergent evolution and biodiversification, which has led biogeographers to recognize the areas as distinctly separate biological sub-regions that are characterized by unique, indigenous flora and fauna. When the European explorers arrived in the New World, the geographic isolation between the eco-zones was disrupted. Prior to the European arrival, Old World crops, e.g., Triticum sp. (wheat), Hordeum vulgare (Barley), Oryza (rice), and Brassica rapa ssp. rapa (Turnip), were unknown in the Americas. Similarly, the Europeans were unfamiliar with New World crops such as Solanum tuberosum (White Potato), Ipomoea batatas (Sweet potato), and Zea mays (Maize) (see Appendix 1). Thoreau’s remarks portray the perceived, dramatic environmental impact that the arrival of the European settlers had upon the North American flora and fauna after only a few centuries. Organisms may spread naturally between areas through dispersal pathways that are biologically classified into corridor, filter, and sweepstakes routes (Cox and Moore 2000). In the corridor route, the pathway presents a variety of suitable habitats throughout, with the areas at the 2 ends possessing an almost identical biota. The majority of organisms are able to disperse between the 2 end areas with little difficulty. The filter pathway comprises a more limited range of habitats, so that only organisms that can exist in those habitats can disperse between the interconnecting regions. In the third type of dispersal pathway, the end regions are islands surrounded by a sea (sometimes literally) of unsuitable habitat. Elton (1958) introduced the concept of man as an impetus for the passive, artificial distribution of animals and plants beyond the prescribed boundaries of their original geographic range. Alfred Crosby (1972) coined the term “Columbian Exchange” to describe the widespread ecological transfer of organisms between the Old World and New World that was initiated by European contact with the Americas in the 15 century. In his later work, Crosby (2004) expanded his initial position and argued that Europeans were successful imperialists because wherever they went their agriculture and domesticated animals thrived and the indigenous populations and local ecosystems collapsed. He referred to the areas of successful European settlement as Neo-Europes and posited that Europe and the Neo-Europes shared ecological similarities—having similar climates and being located completely or, at least, two-thirds within the temperate zones of the northern and southern latitudes. The ecological commonality between the regions is significant because the domesticated plants No. 34:1–38 Journal of the North Atlantic 2018 Journal of the North Atlantic 2018 No. 34 G. King and T. Muller 2 (Appendix 1) and animals (Appendix 2) upon which the Europeans relied typically needed a warm–cool climate with an annual precipitation of 50 to 150 cm in order to flourish (Crosby 2004). Although ecological similarities may have accommodated the arriving biota’s biological needs and facilitated its success upon initial establishment, dense populations of indigenous organisms were already present in the natural environment and would have greeted the European species with competition unless they were otherwise displaced. In order to successfully colonize the New World, the European species would have needed to be suited to survival in specific environments as well as to exhibit characteristics enabling them to out-compete the native biota. Otherwise the species would have died out or, through an inability to self-disperse, had their populations restricted to specific regions. The successful colonization of new habitats by foreign biota is believed to call for the establishment of viable, self-sustaining populations by the initial or early introductions (Sakai et al. 2001). The habitat type (e.g., complex and established natural community [cf. Elton 1927] and human-disturbed habitat [cf. Horvitz et al. 1998]) plays a vital role in determining the characteristics essential for population establishment. Sakai et al. (2001) proposed that successful invasive species will exhibit high fecundity rates as well as competitiveness. When confronted with an established natural community where breeding sites are already utilized, food resources are already being eaten, and shelters are currently occupied by other species, the advantage of an organism being able to quickly produce large numbers of offspring and out-compete competitors is apparent. In order to survive, the nonnative organism must establish itself in a niche, often through the displacement of 1 or more organisms by means of interspecific competition (King 2010a). However, adventitious species are not always faced with resistance from a well-established endemic biota. In areas that have been modified or destroyed by human influence or natural disasters, niches may be vacant. The modification or destruction of an area may temporarily empty previously occupied niches by displacing or extirpating the organisms that formerly resided in them. Furthermore, major alterations to an environment may also result in the indigenous organisms being no longer suitably adapted to the location. Where competition for resources and space is minimal, the only conflicts with which a foreign species are confronted concern the ecological constraints inherent to that species. Biogeographical accounts of the modern North American flora and fauna reveal a number of species identifiable as originating from the Old World (Palaearctic). In addition to the myriad of purposefully imported organisms such as domesticated plants and animals, all of which had some important socioeconomic significance, a number of alien species were unwittingly introduced during colonization. Prominent among these are the majority of the at least 1683 immigrant arthropod species in the continental United States, 66% of which originated from the western Palaearctic (Sailer 1983). In Newfoundland alone, Carl Lindroth (1957) estimated 23% of the flora and 14% of the ground beetles to be of European origin. According to Crosby (2004), this presence of western Palaearctic flora and fauna in North America, reflects the inherent Europeanization of the landscape. In order to formulate their hypotheses, both Crosby (2004) and Lindroth (1957) analyzed modern environments and historical documents. In this paper, we examine paleontological and archaeological data to evaluate the impact of European settlement to southern Québec, Canada, on the indigenous animal and plant biota and to assess the extent by which the settlers constructed archaeologically identifiable European eco-spaces along Quebec’s waterways. We propose that the observable biological changes are a result of a larger settlement package reflecting the cultural needs and identity of colonists arriving in New France. The early colonists were primarily agriculturalists dependent on their imported flora and fauna, which were transported during colonization and reinforced later through trade or subsistence. If the forests had not already been cleared or partly cleared through natural means or artificially by the native populations, the Europeans’ primarily agricultural lifestyle would have demanded a physical transformation of the landscape in order to accommodate growing crops and grazing herds. In New Zealand, the environmental impact of settlement resulted in biotic extirpation, deforestation, sedimentation, and changes to erosion rates (Martin 1984, McGlone 1983, McGlone and Wilmshurst 1999). Is the initial physical transformation of Québec’s existing natural landscape by the colonists therefore seceded by an ecological shift in the endemic biota? Did it secure the invasion of the foreign synanthropic and disturbed-land species, heralding an ecological transformation and the formation of a Neo-European landscape (sensu Crosby 2004)? This paper presents a new contribution to our understanding of Québec’s colonization, relating a story of landscape anthropogenesis and biological transfer in an effort to discern the role of human activities in shaping the colonial landscape and their Journal of the North Atlantic 3 2018 No. 34 G. King and T. Muller impact on the indigenous flora and fauna. It will bring together a range of published and unpublished sources and address issues pertaining to the mechanisms and pathways for the initial colonization of non-human biota. Furthermore, it will demonstrate that the biological transfers were influenced not only by ecological similarities between Europe and the Neo-Europes, but also by socioeconomic conditions made opportune by the colonists.