The Impact of Travel on the Evironment Essay example

The Impact of Travel on the Evironment Human history has been defined by movement and expansion, as humans slowly moved throughout the globe. Even after humans had populated the entire world, humans continued to travel for many reasons: war, trade, adventure, and religion. It would seem that the human species is filled with inveterate travelers. Throughout history, those nations and civilizations that had the best modes of transportation seemed to have a real competitive advantage. The â€Å"northern barbarians† who savaged and conquered much of Europe in its early history, the Greeks, the Romans, and eventually all of Europe in the age of Exploration dominated because they had superior transportation. Horses, boats, and well-built roads†¦show more content†¦Even plants that naturally occurred in certain areas were changed by human travel. Native plants to an area, such as cotton or flax, were crossbred with other forms of the plant from elsewhere to produce a better crop. The result of better, more durabl e crops is the inevitable over-use of the land, because the plant can survive increasingly difficult conditions. The animals that traveled with humans also caused major ecological side-effects. The horse, the cow, and the other large domesticated animals were unknown in the Americas before the Europeans â€Å"discovered† it. The addition of the horse to Plains Indian lifestyles made the damage that they did to the buffalo herds much more severe. In general, the excessive graining and over-planting that caused the Dust Bowl catastrophe of the 1930’s would not have happened if it was not for the plants and animals brought to the New World by the Europeans. In addition, the introduction of animals that are outside the established food chain can cause serious problems. In Australia, there is an annoying modern day example. The cane toad was introduced to Australia in 1935 from Hawaii to combat the scarab beetle. They had no natural predators in Australia, and therefore multiplied and spread throughout much of eastern Australia. They are considered a pest because they poison pets and l arge animals, and eat honeybees and