From the time the first European settlers landed on the East Coast in the early 1600s, they began to reshape the North American continent to suit their needs. They cut down forests for lumber, drained wetlands to plant crops, diverted streams to power mills, and built little cities in the wilderness that often resembled the European villages they had left behind.

The Native Americans who had inhabited the land for tens of thousands of years were either pushed off their land, killed by disease, or slaughtered. The priceless natural resources that they had regarded with reverence and respect were cut down, dug up, surveyed, and sold. The lumber, minerals, and animal furs not used by the exploding population of white colonists were loaded on ships and offered for sale in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and elsewhere.

The land that was once home...