3. Reflection: Cultural Forces in the American Landscapes

Like all territory altered by humans, landscapes in America reflect the varying influence of multiple and often conflicting cultural forces. Some extend across the continent, others are highly local, and some, as cultural exports, have come to affect – some would say, infect – landscapes around the world, for worse or for better. What are the human imperatives that have most profoundly shaped American landscapes in their own regional milieux from coast to coast? The following reflections necessarily concern primarily the coterminous forty-eight states of the United States. Hawaii’s mid-Pacific position owes so much to Oceania and Asia, and in Alaska nature keeps human transformation so markedly at bay, that they call for their own distinctive interpretation.