Colonization and its impact on historical geography of north america Essay

Colonization and its impact on historical geography of north america - Essay Example American colonies also moved in and resolved on sharing the fishery with France, and after the cross-island railroad was built in the 1800’s, fishing had become the only industry in Newfoundland. Fishery impacted the island in many ways: economically, geographically, on the population, industry sector, transport and communication as well as its education sector during this historical time. The geography and ecosystem of Newfoundland has been credited to be a major contributor in the prosperity of fishery. Its climatic conditions had great impact on the marine ecosystem, especially around its central Grand Bank in comparison to other areas, such as the northeast Atlantic. The southward extension of the Island is covered with the Labrador currents that are responsible for the transportation of cold water in the southward direction from the Hudson Bay, Davis Strait and the Canadian Archipelago. The cold water offer conducive fishery conditions in these areas. The median extents s outherly of the sea ice towards the Grand bank with the temperatures at the water bottom falling bellow 0 degrees Celsius for most of the period. The cold conditions that extent southerly are implicated by the frequent polar cod presence along the Newfoundland coast. The fishery activity in the Newfoundland became so dominant that it impacted the geographical considitions of the Island in many adverse ways. This paper is going to look at how European fishery impacted the ecosystem, population and demography and climate of Newfoundland. Road Map 1. Impact on Ecosystem 2. Impact on Climate 3. Population and Demography 4. Conclusion Impact on Ecosystem Before the European interest in the Island, the ecosystem of Canada in general was characterized by very few species, and this was the case at Newfoundland. Among these few species, very few of them were in high abundance. The most dominant fish species included capelin and lance mostly found in the area around the Grand Bank plateau and the polar cod around the north (Lear 50). Herring species was only found in the adjacent waters or in some cases in the bays. The named species fed mostly on crustaceans and calanoid copepods. The fishery activities led to the discovery of more species that later became dominant and important in the Island. Such species include: Greenland halibut, Atlantic code and American plaice. Northern shrimp and snow crab were also later discovered and dominated benthic crustaceans (Lear 62). These species were not enough, considering fishery had turn out to be the main activity on the Island. This called for the need for species in the fishery changing the historical ecosystem of the area. The main introductions included hooded seals and harp seals that come from the north, but this was seasonal. The other species to be introduced were the whales that came into the Island from the south. This species was also seasonal. The most important species that were not naturally found in the Island in clude minke, humpback, pilot whales, fin, sei and sperm (NAFO 333). In addition to the fish species, there were other immigrants that came to the Island following the fishery activity, and they include: squid with short fins, bluefin tuna, mackerel and birds like sooty shearwater and greater shear water (NAFO 333). Overfishing was observed to have great impact on the ecosystem