Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900

Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 is a 1986 book written by Austin, Texas Professor Emeritus of History, Geography, and American Studies Alfred Crosby, in which he explains the relative ease with which Europeans conquered the Neo-Europes was due to biology rather than military conquest. It was based on his 1972 work about the Columbian Exchange.

Crosby begins by pointing out that the populations of what he calls the "Neo-Europes" of temperate zones are primarily composed of European descendants. He asks why there are such large concentrations of Europeans in these lands which are so distant from Europe. Furthermore, why have these locations been able to routinely produce large food surpluses and why are many of the countries located in these regions able to consistently be among the world's largest exporters of food?

Although Europeans as a whole were reluctant to leave the familiarity of their homelands to start a new life abroad until the early 19th century, the Neo-Europes experienced a great influx of European settlers between 1820 and 1930. According to Crosby, this mass emigration was caused by conditions within Europe at the time, such as “population explosion and a resulting shortage of cultivable land, national rivalries, persecution of minorities,” alongside “the application of steam power to ocean and land travel." But what was so appealing about the Neo-Europes to warrant being selected as the primary locations for European expansion?

Crosby's explanation for the success of European imperialists is biogeographical. Europe and the Neo-Europes all share similar latitudes. That is, Europe and the Neo-Europes "are all completely or at least two-thirds in the temperate zones, north and south, which is to say that they have roughly similar climates." This is significant because the plants and animals Europeans have traditionally relied upon for sustenance tend to require a warm-to-cool climate that receives 50 to 150 centimeters of annual precipitation to flourish. Therefore, just as farming was able to spread from the Fertile Crescent, east and west, without much difficulty, replacing the hunter-gatherer lifestyle along the way, so was it able to in the Neo-Europes. But before this could take place, because the indigenous flora and fauna in the Neo-Europes were different from those located in Europe, the foreign biota brought to the New World by Europeans would have to compete with the local one to survive. This would ultimately result in the complete devastation of the native floras and faunas. Crosby says: "the regions that today export more foodstuffs of European provenance – grains and meats – than any other lands on earth had no wheat, barley, rye, cattle, pigs, sheep, or goats whatsoever five hundred years ago."

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