What Was Maryland’s Landscape Like When
the English Colonists Arrived?

The first written accounts of Maryland made by European explorers describe rich and abundant landscapes of forest and water. The Chesapeake Bay was the stage for the earliest direct contact with Maryland and it was central to the initial experiences of European visitors and the records that they made. The Bay supported a diverse web of resources that provided food and which represented economic potential for the colonial endeavor.

“… that aboundance of fish, lying so thicke with their heads above the water, as for want of nets (our barge driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them with a frying pan” Smith, John, Generall Historie of Virginia. In P.L. Barbour, ed., The Complete Works of Captain John Smith (1580-1631), Vol. II. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986).

Early historic accounts of Maryland include detailed descriptions of both the physical and cultural landscapes: a rich estuary flanked by marsh and swamplands, intertwining waterways, a gentle plain of locally-diverse forests, and a network of human communities concentrated in riverside villages where Native Americans plied waterways and trails and managed hunting grounds, nut groves, and gardens. The colonists observed that complex social and political relationships linked the groups of Native Americans they encountered.

History speaks of the natural cycles of want and plenty in the Chesapeake region. During the early summer the rivers, farm fields, and forest edges produced abundant foods. This was followed by a plentiful autumn with a variety of nuts, maize, and fall fruits. Dried and salted foods were stored for winter use. But, according to most accounts, these stores were exhausted long before springtime, and a “starving time” followed when game was scarce and Indians lived almost exclusively on bark, oysters, and plant tubers. The early chroniclers mention the mobility of Native groups – which allowed for flexibility in following food resources during these lean times, and in responding to the weather. The colonists suffered from conventions of land ownership, which offered less flexibility in terms of responding to seasonal cycles. Being anchored to their farms, early settlers suffered devastating privation and starvation.

Conflicts attendant to the colonial encounter had the effect of disturbing Native American settlement patterns, moving people from their traditional homes and changing the relationships between Native groups.

At the time of contact, the forests of the Eastern Woodlands were majestic. Variable mixed hardwood forests formed a tall, dense canopy which dominated the land. Maryland’s forest resources represented an economic opportunity for the colonists. They used wood domestically for building boats, homes, and farm structures. Timber was also exported to England, where a crisis of deforestation made it a highly valuable commodity.

European colonists settled in Maryland during a cool time period in North America and Western Europe. This time is referred to as the “Little Ice Age,” which lasted from about AD1500 to AD1850.

At the time of the colonial encounter, Maryland was home to numerous animals now extinct or extirpated: Wapiti (Eastern elk), woodland bison, passenger pigeon, and the Carolina parakeet were common, and black bear, timber wolf, mountain lion, and bobcat ranged throughout the state.

European exploration and settlement of the New World was primarily an economic venture: colonists sought resources to finance the colonies, to compensate their financiers, and for personal gain. Colonial ideas of land ownership and resource management reflect a focus on industry and trade.

There is evidence that 17th-century farmers on the Chesapeake colonial frontier made use of Indian fields which were already cleared of forest cover and were located on the most productive soils adjacent to waterways.

Significant Events Associated with Contact, Exploration, and Colonization
1492-1607 - 1524 - 1571-1585 - 1607 - 1634 -	Early European contacts and exploration of Eastern North America Earliest written record by Giovanni da Verrazano describes the Chesapeake Bay region Attempted colonization of the region First successful English colony established at Jamestown, Virginia Saint Mary’s City was established and Maryland was founded

Further Information:

Blanton, Dennis
Jamestown’s Environment at http://www.virtualjamestown.org/essays/blanton_essay.html

Brush, Grace
2001   Forests Before and After the Colonial Encounter. In Discovering the Chesapeake: The History of an Ecosystem.
           Curtin, Brush and Fisher, eds. Pp. 40 – 59. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Curtin, Philip D., Grace S. Brush, George W. Fisher
2001   Discovering the Chesapeake: The History of an Ecosystem. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Grumet, Robert S., writer
2000  Bay, Plain, and Piedmont: A Landscape History of the Chesapeake Heartland from 1.3 Billion Years Ago to
          2000. The Chesapeake Bay Heritage Context Project. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service,
          Annapolis, Maryland.

Mann, Charles C.
2005   1491. New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Roundtree, Helen C., Wayne E. Clark, and Kent Mountford
2007   John Smith’s Chesapeake Voyages. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, Virginia.