PT114.S3.P1.Q1 > Analytics

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The myth persists that in 1492 the Western Hemisphere was an untamed wilderness and that it was European settlers who harnessed and transformed its ecosystems. ███ ███████████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███

Intro topic · Misconception that Europeans were the first to tame wilderness

In fact, Native Americans altered the forest before Europeans.

Some researchers' perspective · Burning of forests by Native Americans was minimal

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Critique / Author's Main Point · Lot of evidence that Native Americans routinely burned forests

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Support · Charcoal, characteristics of fires, "mosaic quality," open clearings

These are all evidence of Native American burning. "Mosaic quality" refers to forests with trees of different ages -- some young, some old.

Additional support · Fire-tolerant plants, homogeneous forests (all of same type of tree)

Example · Nicaraguan pine forests are example of homogeneous forest produced by burning

Tropical regions don't get many natural fires. Nicaragua would naturally have mixed forests. But there are homogeneous pine forests there.

Concession · Tropical areas in cooler, drier, higher areas do get natural homogeneous forests

Implies that Nicaragua is warmer, wetter, and lower. That's why homogeneous pine forests in Nicaragua are evidence of burning.

Additional Support · Nicaraguan pine forests today grow in areas that were burned

This probably also happened in the past. Pine forests were found only where there were Native American settlements. When the settlements left, the pine forests disappeared.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████

Despite extensive evidence ████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ███████████ ██████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████

(A) misses the emphasis of the passage. While the author does concede that some researchers think that burning was minimal, the main point is actually that there is substantial evidence that Native Americans routinely burned forests.

In opposition to ███ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████████ ████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ████ █████████████ ████████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████

Unsupported. The author does concede that some researchers think that burning was minimal (and therefore not substantial), so we know that scholars don’t unanimously agree.

Although some scholars ████████ ███ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████████

This is the main point. The author recognizes that some researchers think that burning was minimal, then the author demonstrates that there is substantial evidence that Native Americans routinely burned forests.

79%

Where scholars had ████ ████████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ████████ ████████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ █████

The main point is about the burning of forests, not the cultivation of forests. Also, we don’t know what scholars generally agree on.

While scholars have ████████████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████████████

(E) misses the emphasis of the passage. While it may be true that disagreement persists, the main point is actually that there is substantial evidence that Native Americans routinely burned forests.

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