Author: Peter A. Furley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040030254
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
Originally published in 1994, this book analysed land developments, deforestation and pasture substitution, colonisation schemes and spontaneous settlement during the latter part of the 20th Century. In so doing, The Forest Frontier presents an overview of the intrinsic environmental and socio-economic resources of the Roraima, the most northerly of the Brazilian Amazon states. Roraima is of special environmental interest because of its extensive savannas and varied forests – the home of some of the largest and most diverse groups of indigenous Indians. This critical assessment of the nature and pace of agricultural advance into Roraima examines the range of strategies which have been proposed to cope with the inevitable development. With the conflict between preserving the natural environment and development still major issues for Brazil, this book remains as relevant now as when it was first published.
The Forest Frontier
Deep Woods Frontier
Author: Theodore J. Karamanski
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814320495
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Book Description
Narrating the history of Michigan's forest industry, Karamanski provides a dynamic study of an important part of the Upper Peninsula's economy.
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814320495
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284
Book Description
Narrating the history of Michigan's forest industry, Karamanski provides a dynamic study of an important part of the Upper Peninsula's economy.
The Forest Rose
Author: Emerson Bennett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Belmont County (Ohio)
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
Rose Forester, the ward of Ohio pioneer, Captain Maywood, is captured by Indians and rescued by Maywood's son Albert.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Belmont County (Ohio)
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
Rose Forester, the ward of Ohio pioneer, Captain Maywood, is captured by Indians and rescued by Maywood's son Albert.
The Lumberman's Frontier
Author: Thomas R. Cox
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 548
Book Description
With The Lumberman's Frontier, Thomas Cox has reconstructed a groundbreaking history that stands apart from all previous studies of American forests. Forests were ubiquitous in early America, but it was only in selected areas that trees, rather than farming, attracted settlement. These areas constitute the lumberman's frontier, which appeared first in northern New England in the seventeenth century, followed by upstate New York, the Allegheny Plateau, the upper Great Lakes states, the Gulf South, and the Far West. The forest frontiers generated capital and building materials important in the nation's development, but they also left a legacy of environmental problems, class and urban-rural divisions, and economic frictions. The 1930s marked the end of the lumberman's frontier, but these consequences continue to shape attitudes and policies toward forests, most notably the questions "Whose forests are they?" and "How and by whom should forests be used?" Drawing upon recent work in social and economic history, as well as a wealth of historical data on forest industries and individuals, The Lumberman's Frontier neither glorifies economic development nor falls into the maw of gloom-and-doom. It puts individual actors at center stage, allowing the points of view of the workers and lumbermen to emerge. The Lumberman's Frontier will appeal to students and scholars of forestry, public policy, and environmental history, as well as to general readers interested in the history and settlement of the United States.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 548
Book Description
With The Lumberman's Frontier, Thomas Cox has reconstructed a groundbreaking history that stands apart from all previous studies of American forests. Forests were ubiquitous in early America, but it was only in selected areas that trees, rather than farming, attracted settlement. These areas constitute the lumberman's frontier, which appeared first in northern New England in the seventeenth century, followed by upstate New York, the Allegheny Plateau, the upper Great Lakes states, the Gulf South, and the Far West. The forest frontiers generated capital and building materials important in the nation's development, but they also left a legacy of environmental problems, class and urban-rural divisions, and economic frictions. The 1930s marked the end of the lumberman's frontier, but these consequences continue to shape attitudes and policies toward forests, most notably the questions "Whose forests are they?" and "How and by whom should forests be used?" Drawing upon recent work in social and economic history, as well as a wealth of historical data on forest industries and individuals, The Lumberman's Frontier neither glorifies economic development nor falls into the maw of gloom-and-doom. It puts individual actors at center stage, allowing the points of view of the workers and lumbermen to emerge. The Lumberman's Frontier will appeal to students and scholars of forestry, public policy, and environmental history, as well as to general readers interested in the history and settlement of the United States.
The Forest Rose
Author: Emerson Bennett
Publisher: Franklin Classics
ISBN: 9780343565497
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 166
Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Publisher: Franklin Classics
ISBN: 9780343565497
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 166
Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The Last Frontier: People and forests in Mizoram
Author: Daman Singh
Publisher: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
ISBN: 8185419175
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Book Description
The last frontier: people and forests in Mizoram details the relationship between the people and their environment, and between the environment and development. It is set in Mizoram, one of the seven states of the ecologically complex north-eastern region, a land where society and culture present a fascinating blend of tradition and modernity whose history and polity varies from that of most other parts of India. The book traces the environmental history of Mizoram, beginning in the nineteenth century, through colonial rule and into the post-Independence period. It examines the nature of biophysical resources and the influence of human activities on them. Finally, the management of forests by people and the state is analysed, including a detailed discussion on the system of shifting cultivation. Table of Contents: List of figures List of tables Foreword by Dr T N Khoshoo Preface Introduction: The last frontier Part I: An environmental history of Mizoram Chapter 1: The regime of village republics Settlement in the Lushai hills The supremacy of the village chief Forests: abode of the spirits Shifting cultivation or jhum The influence of people on their environment Parameters of resource use Chapter 2: British occupation of the Lushai Hills Compulsions for conquest Economic importance of the Lushai Hills Instruments of insulation The system of administration The new socio-religious order Ecological implications of political events Chapter 3: Forests and fields: colonial land use policy State control over forests The system of commercial extraction of forest produce Revenue from forests The traders’ lobby Game versus vermin The continuance of shifting cultivation New farming methods The drift of public policy Chapter 4: The creation of Mizoram The route to self rule A limited taste of freedom The struggle for Independence From Union Territory to State Isolation, alienation, and regionalism Public participation in governance Legitimizing shifting cultivation Forests for the people Implications for resource use Chapter 5: The roots of environmental change Religion Education Community relations Growth and distribution of population Occupational mobility Urbanization Land use policies Part II: Management of resources: between people and the State Chapter 6: Physiography, land cover, and land use Geomorphology Land forms Climate Soils Types of vegetation cover Land use Chapter 7: Forests, their form and features The extent of forests Basic characteristics The quality of forest resources The wood and bamboo balance Chapter 8: Keepers of the forest The existence of village forest reserves Norms governing village forests Changes in area of village forests Availability of forest produce Control by the village council Imperatives of local management Forests in the hands of the State The incidence of encroachment Regulating commercial use of forests Afforestation programmes Imperatives of governmental management Chapter 9: How shifting cultivation works The element of collectivity Community management of shifting cultivation Preferred sites for j humming Allotment of jhum plots Clearing the forest Burning Sowing Weeding Harvesting The element of uncertainty Chapter 10: The tenacity of shifting cultivation The village scenario The dependence on shifting cultivation The duration of jhum cycles Levels of productivity Chapter 11: The environmental impact of shifting cultivation The post-jhum ecosystem Effect on biodiversity Climatic change due to deforestation Floods in the plains The role of fire - Soil erosion and run-off Sustainability of productivity Myth, conjecture, and reality Chapter 12: The new land use policy · A review of past strategies · The old New Land Use Policy · The Jhum Control Project · Changes in the New Land Use Policy · The alternative to shifting cultivation Conclusion: People and forests in Mizoram Appendices 1. Reserved tree species in the Lushai Hills 2. Domestic animals killed by wild animals in the North Lushai Hills as reported by village writers 3. The Lushai Hills District (Jhumming) Regulation, 1954 4. The Mizo District (Forest) Act, 1954 5. Socio-economic data of Mizoram 6. Agricultural statistics 7. Distribution of slope categories for select river catchments 8. Physical characteristics of soils in Mizoram 9. Tree species found in major forest types 10. Nature of slopes used in shifting cultivation 11. Percentage shares of land use categories in Mizoram 12. General characteristics of vegetation cover in Mizoram 13. Vegetation cover by strata 14. Growing stock per hectare by strata 15. Percentage distribution of stems per hectare by diameter class 16. Major species contributing to basal area in each stratum 17. Wood and bamboo consumption 18. The existence of village forest reserves 19. Changes in the extent of village forest reserves 20. Availability of trees and bamboos for domestic use 21. Detection of offences committed in safety and supply reserves 22. Revenue from forests 23. Carrying capacity of land under shifting cultivation: Mampui and Sairep village (1962) 24. Jhum cycles in Mizoram 25. Shifting cultivation in sample villages 26. Pattern of secondary succession after jhumming at Burnihat 27. Soil and water losses due to shifting cultivation 28. Farming systems research by ICAR RCNEHR (Shillong) at Burnihat: 1976-89 29. Rice production in Mizoram 30. Promising crops for cultivation in the north-eastern region References Index List of figures 1. The location of Mizoram and the north-eastern region in India 2. Territories occupied by Mizo tribes before the British rule 3. The location of places mentioned in chapter 2 and chapter 3 4. Mizoram: geology 5. Mizoram: rivers 6. Mizoram: soil nutrient status 7. Mizoram: forest reserves List of tables Revenue obtained from the hill areas of Eastern Bengal and Assam, 1903-04 Receipts from forests of the Lushai hills district (in rupees, annas, paise) Number of wild animals killed for which rewards were paid: 1943-44 to 1947-48 Percentage of literacy by sea Percentage distribution of total main workers * (approximate estimate based on 1991 census) Area under different categories of slope The pattern of land use in Mizoram (1987-89) Average soil loss and affected area (estimated for five catchments) Extent of vegetation cover in Mizoram (1975-76) Land use and land cover by thematic mapping (1989) District-wise extent of forest (1987-89) The extent of forests by different sources The extent of vegetation cover by type Growing stock of trees and bamboo by strata Species diversity of strata The legal status of forest Family labour involved in clearing forest Gross village income by source in Hmunpui (1964-65) Output-input ratios of cultivation Early succession at Burnihat and Sesawng Coverage of the New Land Use Policy
Publisher: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
ISBN: 8185419175
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Book Description
The last frontier: people and forests in Mizoram details the relationship between the people and their environment, and between the environment and development. It is set in Mizoram, one of the seven states of the ecologically complex north-eastern region, a land where society and culture present a fascinating blend of tradition and modernity whose history and polity varies from that of most other parts of India. The book traces the environmental history of Mizoram, beginning in the nineteenth century, through colonial rule and into the post-Independence period. It examines the nature of biophysical resources and the influence of human activities on them. Finally, the management of forests by people and the state is analysed, including a detailed discussion on the system of shifting cultivation. Table of Contents: List of figures List of tables Foreword by Dr T N Khoshoo Preface Introduction: The last frontier Part I: An environmental history of Mizoram Chapter 1: The regime of village republics Settlement in the Lushai hills The supremacy of the village chief Forests: abode of the spirits Shifting cultivation or jhum The influence of people on their environment Parameters of resource use Chapter 2: British occupation of the Lushai Hills Compulsions for conquest Economic importance of the Lushai Hills Instruments of insulation The system of administration The new socio-religious order Ecological implications of political events Chapter 3: Forests and fields: colonial land use policy State control over forests The system of commercial extraction of forest produce Revenue from forests The traders’ lobby Game versus vermin The continuance of shifting cultivation New farming methods The drift of public policy Chapter 4: The creation of Mizoram The route to self rule A limited taste of freedom The struggle for Independence From Union Territory to State Isolation, alienation, and regionalism Public participation in governance Legitimizing shifting cultivation Forests for the people Implications for resource use Chapter 5: The roots of environmental change Religion Education Community relations Growth and distribution of population Occupational mobility Urbanization Land use policies Part II: Management of resources: between people and the State Chapter 6: Physiography, land cover, and land use Geomorphology Land forms Climate Soils Types of vegetation cover Land use Chapter 7: Forests, their form and features The extent of forests Basic characteristics The quality of forest resources The wood and bamboo balance Chapter 8: Keepers of the forest The existence of village forest reserves Norms governing village forests Changes in area of village forests Availability of forest produce Control by the village council Imperatives of local management Forests in the hands of the State The incidence of encroachment Regulating commercial use of forests Afforestation programmes Imperatives of governmental management Chapter 9: How shifting cultivation works The element of collectivity Community management of shifting cultivation Preferred sites for j humming Allotment of jhum plots Clearing the forest Burning Sowing Weeding Harvesting The element of uncertainty Chapter 10: The tenacity of shifting cultivation The village scenario The dependence on shifting cultivation The duration of jhum cycles Levels of productivity Chapter 11: The environmental impact of shifting cultivation The post-jhum ecosystem Effect on biodiversity Climatic change due to deforestation Floods in the plains The role of fire - Soil erosion and run-off Sustainability of productivity Myth, conjecture, and reality Chapter 12: The new land use policy · A review of past strategies · The old New Land Use Policy · The Jhum Control Project · Changes in the New Land Use Policy · The alternative to shifting cultivation Conclusion: People and forests in Mizoram Appendices 1. Reserved tree species in the Lushai Hills 2. Domestic animals killed by wild animals in the North Lushai Hills as reported by village writers 3. The Lushai Hills District (Jhumming) Regulation, 1954 4. The Mizo District (Forest) Act, 1954 5. Socio-economic data of Mizoram 6. Agricultural statistics 7. Distribution of slope categories for select river catchments 8. Physical characteristics of soils in Mizoram 9. Tree species found in major forest types 10. Nature of slopes used in shifting cultivation 11. Percentage shares of land use categories in Mizoram 12. General characteristics of vegetation cover in Mizoram 13. Vegetation cover by strata 14. Growing stock per hectare by strata 15. Percentage distribution of stems per hectare by diameter class 16. Major species contributing to basal area in each stratum 17. Wood and bamboo consumption 18. The existence of village forest reserves 19. Changes in the extent of village forest reserves 20. Availability of trees and bamboos for domestic use 21. Detection of offences committed in safety and supply reserves 22. Revenue from forests 23. Carrying capacity of land under shifting cultivation: Mampui and Sairep village (1962) 24. Jhum cycles in Mizoram 25. Shifting cultivation in sample villages 26. Pattern of secondary succession after jhumming at Burnihat 27. Soil and water losses due to shifting cultivation 28. Farming systems research by ICAR RCNEHR (Shillong) at Burnihat: 1976-89 29. Rice production in Mizoram 30. Promising crops for cultivation in the north-eastern region References Index List of figures 1. The location of Mizoram and the north-eastern region in India 2. Territories occupied by Mizo tribes before the British rule 3. The location of places mentioned in chapter 2 and chapter 3 4. Mizoram: geology 5. Mizoram: rivers 6. Mizoram: soil nutrient status 7. Mizoram: forest reserves List of tables Revenue obtained from the hill areas of Eastern Bengal and Assam, 1903-04 Receipts from forests of the Lushai hills district (in rupees, annas, paise) Number of wild animals killed for which rewards were paid: 1943-44 to 1947-48 Percentage of literacy by sea Percentage distribution of total main workers * (approximate estimate based on 1991 census) Area under different categories of slope The pattern of land use in Mizoram (1987-89) Average soil loss and affected area (estimated for five catchments) Extent of vegetation cover in Mizoram (1975-76) Land use and land cover by thematic mapping (1989) District-wise extent of forest (1987-89) The extent of forests by different sources The extent of vegetation cover by type Growing stock of trees and bamboo by strata Species diversity of strata The legal status of forest Family labour involved in clearing forest Gross village income by source in Hmunpui (1964-65) Output-input ratios of cultivation Early succession at Burnihat and Sesawng Coverage of the New Land Use Policy
The Far Frontier
Author: William O. Steele
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Frontier and pioneer life
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
A young boy guides a naturalist from Philadelphia on an expedition through the Tennessee wilderness.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Frontier and pioneer life
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Book Description
A young boy guides a naturalist from Philadelphia on an expedition through the Tennessee wilderness.
A Place in the Rain Forest
Author: Darryl Cole-Christensen
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292711914
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
In the 1950s, Darryl Cole-Christensen and his family were among the first settlers of the Coto Brus, an almost impenetrable, mountainous rain forest region of southeastern Costa Rica. In this evocative book, he captures the elemental struggles and rewards of settling a new frontier—an experience forever closed to most people in Western, urbanized society. With the perspective of more than forty years' residence in the Coto Brus, Cole-Christensen ably describes both the settlers' dreams of bringing civilization and progress to the rain forest and the sweeping and irreversible changes they caused throughout the ecosystem as they cut the rain forest down. Writing neither to apologize for nor to defend their actions, he instead illuminates the personal and subjective factors that cause people to risk danger and hardship for the uncertain rewards of settling a frontier. In his own words, Cole-Christensen says, "This is a book for the scientist who wants to recapture a sense of an incalculable world departed, for the student who asks: How is it that our forebears changed and restructured this land? For the adventurer who dreams of the expanse of frontiers, for every person who, having passed once through the darkening forest along a path in twilit stillness looks back to find that a blanket of murmurs remains."
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 9780292711914
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
In the 1950s, Darryl Cole-Christensen and his family were among the first settlers of the Coto Brus, an almost impenetrable, mountainous rain forest region of southeastern Costa Rica. In this evocative book, he captures the elemental struggles and rewards of settling a new frontier—an experience forever closed to most people in Western, urbanized society. With the perspective of more than forty years' residence in the Coto Brus, Cole-Christensen ably describes both the settlers' dreams of bringing civilization and progress to the rain forest and the sweeping and irreversible changes they caused throughout the ecosystem as they cut the rain forest down. Writing neither to apologize for nor to defend their actions, he instead illuminates the personal and subjective factors that cause people to risk danger and hardship for the uncertain rewards of settling a frontier. In his own words, Cole-Christensen says, "This is a book for the scientist who wants to recapture a sense of an incalculable world departed, for the student who asks: How is it that our forebears changed and restructured this land? For the adventurer who dreams of the expanse of frontiers, for every person who, having passed once through the darkening forest along a path in twilit stillness looks back to find that a blanket of murmurs remains."
La Frontera
Author: Thomas Miller Klubock
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822376563
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
In La Frontera, Thomas Miller Klubock offers a pioneering social and environmental history of southern Chile, exploring the origins of today’s forestry "miracle" in Chile. Although Chile's forestry boom is often attributed to the free-market policies of the Pinochet dictatorship, La Frontera shows that forestry development began in the early twentieth century when Chilean governments turned to forestry science and plantations of the North American Monterey pine to establish their governance of the frontier's natural and social worlds. Klubock demonstrates that modern conservationist policies and scientific forestry drove the enclosure of frontier commons occupied by indigenous and non-indigenous peasants who were defined as a threat to both native forests and tree plantations. La Frontera narrates the century-long struggles among peasants, Mapuche indigenous communities, large landowners, and the state over access to forest commons in the frontier territory. It traces the shifting social meanings of environmentalism by showing how, during the 1990s, rural laborers and Mapuches, once vilified by conservationists and foresters, drew on the language of modern environmentalism to critique the social dislocations produced by Chile's much vaunted neoliberal economic model, linking a more just social order to the biodiversity of native forests.
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822376563
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432
Book Description
In La Frontera, Thomas Miller Klubock offers a pioneering social and environmental history of southern Chile, exploring the origins of today’s forestry "miracle" in Chile. Although Chile's forestry boom is often attributed to the free-market policies of the Pinochet dictatorship, La Frontera shows that forestry development began in the early twentieth century when Chilean governments turned to forestry science and plantations of the North American Monterey pine to establish their governance of the frontier's natural and social worlds. Klubock demonstrates that modern conservationist policies and scientific forestry drove the enclosure of frontier commons occupied by indigenous and non-indigenous peasants who were defined as a threat to both native forests and tree plantations. La Frontera narrates the century-long struggles among peasants, Mapuche indigenous communities, large landowners, and the state over access to forest commons in the frontier territory. It traces the shifting social meanings of environmentalism by showing how, during the 1990s, rural laborers and Mapuches, once vilified by conservationists and foresters, drew on the language of modern environmentalism to critique the social dislocations produced by Chile's much vaunted neoliberal economic model, linking a more just social order to the biodiversity of native forests.
Language, Coffee, and Migration on an Andean-Amazonian Frontier
Author: Nicholas Q. Emlen
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816541353
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
Extraordinary change is under way in the Alto Urubamba Valley, a vital and turbulent corner of the Andean-Amazonian borderland of southern Peru. Here, tens of thousands of Quechua-speaking farmers from the rural Andes have migrated to the territory of the Indigenous Amazonian Matsigenka people in search of land for coffee cultivation. This migration has created a new multilingual, multiethnic agrarian society. The rich-tasting Peruvian coffee in your cup is the distillate of an intensely dynamic Amazonian frontier, where native Matsigenkas, state agents, and migrants from the rural highlands are carving the forest into farms. Language, Coffee, and Migration on an Andean-Amazonian Frontier shows how people of different backgrounds married together and blended the Quechua, Matsigenka, and Spanish languages in their day-to-day lives. This frontier relationship took place against a backdrop of deforestation, cocaine trafficking, and destructive natural gas extraction. Nicholas Q. Emlen’s rich account—which takes us to remote Amazonian villages, dusty frontier towns, roadside bargaining sessions, and coffee traders’ homes—offers a new view of settlement frontiers as they are negotiated in linguistic interactions and social relationships. This interethnic encounter was not a clash between distinct groups but rather an integrated network of people who adopted various stances toward each other as they spoke. The book brings together a fine-grained analysis of multilingualism with urgent issues in Latin America today, including land rights, poverty, drug trafficking, and the devastation of the world’s largest forest. It offers a timely on-the-ground perspective on the agricultural colonization of the Amazon, which has triggered an environmental emergency threatening the future of the planet.
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816541353
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297
Book Description
Extraordinary change is under way in the Alto Urubamba Valley, a vital and turbulent corner of the Andean-Amazonian borderland of southern Peru. Here, tens of thousands of Quechua-speaking farmers from the rural Andes have migrated to the territory of the Indigenous Amazonian Matsigenka people in search of land for coffee cultivation. This migration has created a new multilingual, multiethnic agrarian society. The rich-tasting Peruvian coffee in your cup is the distillate of an intensely dynamic Amazonian frontier, where native Matsigenkas, state agents, and migrants from the rural highlands are carving the forest into farms. Language, Coffee, and Migration on an Andean-Amazonian Frontier shows how people of different backgrounds married together and blended the Quechua, Matsigenka, and Spanish languages in their day-to-day lives. This frontier relationship took place against a backdrop of deforestation, cocaine trafficking, and destructive natural gas extraction. Nicholas Q. Emlen’s rich account—which takes us to remote Amazonian villages, dusty frontier towns, roadside bargaining sessions, and coffee traders’ homes—offers a new view of settlement frontiers as they are negotiated in linguistic interactions and social relationships. This interethnic encounter was not a clash between distinct groups but rather an integrated network of people who adopted various stances toward each other as they spoke. The book brings together a fine-grained analysis of multilingualism with urgent issues in Latin America today, including land rights, poverty, drug trafficking, and the devastation of the world’s largest forest. It offers a timely on-the-ground perspective on the agricultural colonization of the Amazon, which has triggered an environmental emergency threatening the future of the planet.