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California World History Library
The Unending Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World (California World History Library)
It was the age of exploration, the age of empire and conquest, and human beings were extending their reach―and their numbers―as never before. In the process, they were intervening in the world's natural environment in equally unprecedented and dramatic ways. A sweeping work of environmental history, The Unending Frontier offers a truly global perspective on the profound impact of humanity on the natural world in the early modern period.
John F. Richards identifies four broadly shared historical processes that speeded environmental change from roughly 1500 to 1800 intensified human land use along settlement frontiers; biological invasions; commercial hunting of wildlife; and problems of energy scarcity. The Unending Frontier considers each of these trends in a series of case studies, sometimes of a particular place, such as Tokugawa Japan and early modern England and China, sometimes of a particular activity, such as the fur trade in North America and Russia, cod fishing in the North Atlantic, and whaling in the Arctic. Throughout, Richards shows how humans―whether clearing forests or draining wetlands, transporting bacteria, insects, and livestock; hunting species to extinction, or reshaping landscapes―altered the material well-being of the natural world along with their own.
John F. Richards identifies four broadly shared historical processes that speeded environmental change from roughly 1500 to 1800 intensified human land use along settlement frontiers; biological invasions; commercial hunting of wildlife; and problems of energy scarcity. The Unending Frontier considers each of these trends in a series of case studies, sometimes of a particular place, such as Tokugawa Japan and early modern England and China, sometimes of a particular activity, such as the fur trade in North America and Russia, cod fishing in the North Atlantic, and whaling in the Arctic. Throughout, Richards shows how humans―whether clearing forests or draining wetlands, transporting bacteria, insects, and livestock; hunting species to extinction, or reshaping landscapes―altered the material well-being of the natural world along with their own.
696 pages, Paperback
First published January 19, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 24, 2026
For many scholars, 1500 C.E. represents a crucial turning point in the history of the world. It was during the Early Modern period, Richards writes, that the varied processes of global change accelerated to a truly unprecedented degree. All within a few centuries human populations swelled in number, political institutions and private organizations became highly complex, and warfare became deadlier. Richards's work is an environmental history on a global scale, as he argues that connecting environmental narratives to world history is an important method for understanding broader long-term effects of human action. Richards outlines four primary mechanisms of global change, each with profound environmental implications, through which humans transformed landscapes on a global scale: the deep intensification of agriculture, the spread of humans, animals, and microbes, commercialized hunting and fishing, and resource scarcity in settled areas.
To illustrate these historical processes of change, Richards proceeds through fourteen representative case studies from Eurasia, Africa, and The Americas. In each case, he links macro-level global mechanisms to micro-level environmental transformations. His ninth chapter on the Columbian Exchange and the West Indies is a compelling example of his approach. Many scholars have pointed to this period of intense triangular trade as a foundational moment for globalization itself. Indeed, as Richards discusses, the introduction of new sugar-oriented agricultural methods displaced existing indigenous practices, and imported microbes led to catastrophic demographic collapse for local Taino and Carib populations, thereby allowing for the extensive import and proliferation of European livestock. While these arguments represent only two of Richards’s four core processual themes, agricultural intensification and biological invasion. Other chapters explore the other core themes in varying configurations.
Though there are problems with Richards’s overreliance on secondary sources, his loose grasp on fields like China, and his paltry inclusion of African case studies, The Unending Frontier is an incredible culmination of a very long career. The prose is engaging, points are well made, and even when Richards dips into oversimplification or even faulty analysis he still adequately demonstrates the value of applying his framework to global studies and studies of globalization. Some regions, like Africa, are only briefly mentioned and more is neglected than included, but a truly universal project is difficult for any reader to ask for. Despite the vast temporal separation between this book’s focus and that of my own research, Richards’s approach to global change is an intriguing lens with which to investigate Roman expansion and exploitation. In Roman Britain, for example, I could posit that Richards’s intensification of agriculture, biological invasion, ‘commercialized’ hunting, and resource scarcity all existed to different degrees and each drove historical and environmental change. This is a worthwhile inclusion in the library of any world or environmental historian at any academic level, and Richards’s elegant prose is similarly accessible and worthwhile to non-collegiate historical readers.
To illustrate these historical processes of change, Richards proceeds through fourteen representative case studies from Eurasia, Africa, and The Americas. In each case, he links macro-level global mechanisms to micro-level environmental transformations. His ninth chapter on the Columbian Exchange and the West Indies is a compelling example of his approach. Many scholars have pointed to this period of intense triangular trade as a foundational moment for globalization itself. Indeed, as Richards discusses, the introduction of new sugar-oriented agricultural methods displaced existing indigenous practices, and imported microbes led to catastrophic demographic collapse for local Taino and Carib populations, thereby allowing for the extensive import and proliferation of European livestock. While these arguments represent only two of Richards’s four core processual themes, agricultural intensification and biological invasion. Other chapters explore the other core themes in varying configurations.
Though there are problems with Richards’s overreliance on secondary sources, his loose grasp on fields like China, and his paltry inclusion of African case studies, The Unending Frontier is an incredible culmination of a very long career. The prose is engaging, points are well made, and even when Richards dips into oversimplification or even faulty analysis he still adequately demonstrates the value of applying his framework to global studies and studies of globalization. Some regions, like Africa, are only briefly mentioned and more is neglected than included, but a truly universal project is difficult for any reader to ask for. Despite the vast temporal separation between this book’s focus and that of my own research, Richards’s approach to global change is an intriguing lens with which to investigate Roman expansion and exploitation. In Roman Britain, for example, I could posit that Richards’s intensification of agriculture, biological invasion, ‘commercialized’ hunting, and resource scarcity all existed to different degrees and each drove historical and environmental change. This is a worthwhile inclusion in the library of any world or environmental historian at any academic level, and Richards’s elegant prose is similarly accessible and worthwhile to non-collegiate historical readers.
October 16, 2007
Great introduction to seeing the history of the early modern period from a new view point. Particularly interesting how Tokugawa Japan turned its back on the outside world and restricted its consumption to better conserve its natural landscapes and forests. A great starting point for anyone who is interested in the combination of history and the environment. Complements J McNeill's Something New Under the Sun which is an environmental history of the 20th century and equally good.
February 23, 2025
A book with a truly grand plan. I wonder if the author really has what it takes to follow up that grand plan with equally grand and insightful research in each case. The reader must have a broad and deep understanding of the early modern era of world history to enjoy the book.
The book consists of a number of interesting case studies. They are really uneven in their execution though. The chapter on Tokugawa Japan can serve as a useful vantage point for that period; the chapter on early modern Great Britain is planned as a contrasting point (conservation of resources vs. expansion), but it has a completely different format and focus. Some chapters include an extensive introduction into the political/military history (the Dutch golden age case), others do not (the Russian case). The Mughal chapter, the only one where the author is within his specialty, is quite weak owing to the lack of primary information, but it is the first case study in the book, nonetheless. I liked the chapters on Newfoundland fishing and Atlantic arctic whaling in particular; in most chapters I found something new and something to like. Still, the book leaves quite a lot to be desired.
The book consists of a number of interesting case studies. They are really uneven in their execution though. The chapter on Tokugawa Japan can serve as a useful vantage point for that period; the chapter on early modern Great Britain is planned as a contrasting point (conservation of resources vs. expansion), but it has a completely different format and focus. Some chapters include an extensive introduction into the political/military history (the Dutch golden age case), others do not (the Russian case). The Mughal chapter, the only one where the author is within his specialty, is quite weak owing to the lack of primary information, but it is the first case study in the book, nonetheless. I liked the chapters on Newfoundland fishing and Atlantic arctic whaling in particular; in most chapters I found something new and something to like. Still, the book leaves quite a lot to be desired.
May 3, 2023
An important work of global environmental history of impressive scope. Argues that the centralization of states and pushing into frontiers, both contiguous and across oceans, drove resource use, exploitation, and ecological change. Rising populations forced expansion and greater resource, particularly energy, usage. Some states/societies made better choices and/or had better luck than others. Lots of very interesting facts and nuggets of information in this book.
September 6, 2017
This book was assigned for an Environmental History class. It gave a broad sweep of the world and how resources were used. It provides a picture of what happens when we see an resource as inexhaustible. History proves over and over from trees to whales there is no such thing as inexhaustible resources.
February 24, 2018
Looking at how humans shaped the world is interesting, but how does the environment shape us.
A lot of world history can be determined on geography such as why Coal shaped England and how clearing the jungles shaped Bangladesh.
A lot of world history can be determined on geography such as why Coal shaped England and how clearing the jungles shaped Bangladesh.
Want to Read
February 24, 2022Recommended in Piketty
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2025
Despite the lack of theoretical or historiographical ramifications, it still provides amazing insight into how various groups around the world in frontiers interacted and used nature.
March 6, 2012
I love environmental history, and I quite enjoyed this book. It is a bit long, and I don't know if any non-historians would want to read it. But I learned a lot. The sections on the world hunt were particularly interesting to me, as was the section on Tokugawa Japan.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews