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Jan 1, 1000
Agriculture Begins
Around 6000 BC, the earliest civilizations in America began farming and growing their own food. This is essentially what led to permanent settlements and communities being built in areas all across the country. -
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Founding the Colonies
Over the course of this century, the original thirteen American colonies were founded along the East Coast. This is significant because this people began to live their lives differntly than the Native Americans, which changed the environment. -
Westward Expansion
Many farmers and immigrants migrated to the eastern United States. This occured after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, which granted the United States with 828,000 miles of lands from the French. People began to migrate west for better farming conditions so that they coukd make more money. -
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Construction of Canals, Textile Mills, and Railroads
During this time, railroads, textile mills, and canals began expanding across the United States. This made travel quicker and easier, and it also provided more jobs for people all across the country. -
Homestead Act of 1862
Citizens could apply for a Homestead, and receive 160 acres of land from the government. The homesteaders would need to farm and irrigate the poor, dry land for 5 years. -
Cities Emerge
After the Civil War, Americans became more focused on industrializing and making the country more technologically advanced. This led to many Americans moving into the cities with the hope of earning more money than they would as a farmer. -
Start of American Imperialism
After the conclusion of the Reconstruction era, the United States began to show interest in foreign territories. Americans at this time wanted to prove that they were a strong, independent country capable of taking part in affairs, but some also felt that annexing more territories into the United States was a positive thing, as it would bring about more land for advances. -
Formation of the Sierra Club
Formed by John Muir, this club urged the nation to perserve the wilderness and the earth's other natural resources. The goal of this group was to draw attention to the damage that industrialization and the growth of business had caused on the land, and encourage the government to provide aid in protecting those vital resources. -
Annexation of Hawaii
In 1875, a treaty was passed that allowed American planters to grow sugar in Hawaii and ship it to various parts of the United States for no cost. The American planters were not fond of the Hawaiian leader, Liliuokalani, and large amounts of tension led to her being overthrown in 1893. Finally, in 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii as a territory, which meant that Americans would have more space to inhabit and industrialize. -
National Reclamation Act
Supported by Theodore Roosevelt, this act used the money from public land sales to fund water management in arid regions. It also set up the Reclamation Service, which was responsible for constructing dams and planning projects to improve irrigation nationwide. -
Izaak Walton League
This league consisted of a group of fishing enthusiasts who successfully persuaded Congress to put a stop to the plan that would drain the wetlands on the upper Mississippi. Congress instead decided to declare the waterway a national wildlife preserve. -
National Conference on Outdoor Recreation
In 1924, Herbert Hoover called this conference to consider ways to industrialize and modernize the United States while still preserving wildlife and the nation's natural resources. -
The Wilderness Protection Movement
This movement began to gain momentum in the 1930s because it was supported by a number of groups, such as the Wilderness Society (1935) and the National Wildlife Federation (1936). This proves that people were concerned with the environment and they wanted to protect it for the future generations -
The Dust Bowl Begins
Soil in the midwest was eroded and picked up with wind in Oklahioma, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, creating great dust storms. This completly ruined agraculture and worsened the alread present drought; it was partially cuaused by poor farming tactics of laying down loose soil. -
Tennessee Valley Authority Act
Senator of Nebraska, George Norris wanted to use a hydroelectric plant to supply nearby farms during the Great Depression. The TVA then advanced this development aiding the poor Tennessee River Valley; the newly constructed dam then brought hydroelectric power to many recreational facilities, and reduced soil erosion and flooding. -
Taylor Grazing Act
This act restricted the grazing on public lands that were already experiencing problems. The Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service is the primary reason why this act was passed, because they actively promoted contour plowing, crop rotation, and soil strengthening grasses. -
Indian Reorganization Act
Also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act, this federal legislation hailted the sales of former Indian land. This secured certain rights to natives of the land that had before been distributed by the Dawes Act. -
National Resources Planning Board
This agency, which was put into place by Harold Ickes, facilitated state and regional management of water, soil, timber, and minerals. -
Fat Man
Atomic bomb "Fat Man" is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan as part of the 'Manhattan Project" . 129,000 - 246,000 people are killed, radiation and nuclear fallout were primarily the causes of death. Cities within a 1 mile radius were completely destryoed and people and agriculture experienced the effects of the bomb for as far as a 2 mile radius from the explosion. -
Little Boy
In order to get the Japanese to surrender without invadintg the homeland, atomic bomb "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. 90,00- 166,000 people were killed due to both the nuclear fallout and the extremem radiation. -
Ivy Mike
The first hydrogen bomb, Ivy Mike is tested in Enewetak Atoll as a demostration to the Soviet Union. This thermonuclear device stripped nearby islands of vegetation with the massive waves that were produced. Also, many islands were contaminated with radiation as well as many fish near detonation that were in the North Pacific Ocean. -
Interstate Highway System
Proposed by President Eisenhower, this system of roads ran all across the United States. It's primary purpose was to connect western America to eastern America, so that goods and resources could be transported quickly and efficiently. As people became welathier and cars became more accessible, more and more people began using the Interstate Highway System to travel, whch affected the environement negatively. -
Enviornmental Protection Agency
The EPA was created by president Nixon as a response to the popular pressure of protecting the enviornment. This Agency required federal agencies to prepare an analysis on the enviornmental impact of all proposed projects. -
Greenpeace is Expanded to the US
This nongovernmental envoiment protection group was initially founded in Canada in 1971. Greenpeace was extremely popular amonsgt "hippies'" and gianed over 250,000 members. It fought ecologically harmful projects and aimed to protect old-growth forests and the world's oceans. -
Three Mile Island Crisis
In Pennsylvainia, a nuclear-power plant experienced a partial meltdown. This deepened public concerns about nuclear power being so close to home, and opposition to nuclear power in America increased. This was the greatest accident in US commercial nucleqar power plant history, and shook American confidence.
