“The big 5, horses, cattle, goats pigs, and sheep domesticate the European landscape they contribute to Europe's overcrowded conditions.”


“They (Incas) are famed for their gold, but their true treasure is less glamorous.”


“Europes lakes are now dirty and empty and the seas are quickly becoming depleted.”

“When the jungle was cleared in the 20th century for agricultural purposes people found the remains of a sophisticated civilization that once managed this landscape
In 1491 this area was home to thousands of people.”


“Their growing population needs more food and the space in which to grow it.”


“Curiosity and a thirst for power push Europe to its limits.”

“From the tropical seas to the arid deserts, it is vast, and there is space, with room for every possible landscape stretching from the northernmost to almost the southernmost point of the globe.”



“In Europe, no news stays local for long.”

“Desperados with nothing to lose, men in need of a job - and the Queen needs them. Anyone can come along, anyone can be a conquistador, even a pig farmer can win glory and riches in far away lands.”

“Columbus’s second voyage begins a stampede of Spanish exploration and conquest... Within 40 years the Inca in the Andes fall to Pizarro, and the Aztecs in central America to Cortez.”


“Where there were towns and cities inhabited by millions of people, the Spanish leave only ruins, and no one to manage the land.”


“Once ashore a few horses run wild. A new breed evolves, which soon takes over North America - The Mustang. With 300 years they have reached the Central Plains and the Rocky Mountains. At the end of the 18th century, the Mustang makes it as far as Canada. 150 years later there may be 7 million wild horses in North America.”


“A healthy sow can give birth to 10 piglets at a time...to the Native Americans they’re a curse.”



“The Spaniard, his horse and his pig would have never been as successful in the conquest of the new world without a hidden passenger. It is when the old and new worlds touch that the Native American meets his worst enemy.”

“Smallpox together with measles and influenza had a devastating impact on native american population. Nobody knows exactly what the mortality was. Conservative estimates are about 50%, it was probably closer to 90% or even higher.”

“Many natives die of foreign diseases without ever seeing a European. Microbes travel faster than the Conquistadors who brought them. Some 50 years after Columbus first sets foot in the Americas, Conquistadors and explorers find neither towns nor people. No one stands in their way, most of the people are dead and nature reclaims the land.”


“The land is rich in resources that Europe lacks, in the long run more valuable than gold and silver.”


“The forests must fall if the settlers are to succeed. From now on the trees are doomed.”

“The resources of this vast continent seem to be inexhaustible, but in time fish stocks will dwindle in the Americas too. They create this new world in the image of the one they left.”


“It takes only 200 years to achieve what took 1000 years in Europe - overfishing.”


“Livestock and Grains from Europe will transform the landscape and make it a true New England.”


“An environmental revolution takes place.”

“The invasion of European insects and animals changes the American Landscape forever. Horses, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens and huge herds of cattle take over North and South America. The cattle along double every 15 months and feed the settlers.”


“Settlers are not forced to adapt to the landscape, they domesticate and dominate it.”

“From the most insignificant weed to the continent's greatest animal, the bison, nothing is untouched.  America’s flora and fauna are forever changed. Where the bison once reigned, cattle soon roam.”


“This is biological imperialism in full swing. Europe's fruits and vegetables conquer the new world.” 


“New world vegetables make a big impact...The plant with the greatest impact needs a couple centuries to take root init culture... by 1700 there is a unprecedented population explosion in Europe thanks to a plant from the far away Andes.”

“By the 18th century the metamorphosis of most of the Americas is complete. New England and New Spain are fully established. Nature has been transformed and is in the hands of man.”