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Rivers and Environmental History HIST 2250 M. A. Cyphers-Reiche Jack Hallett 0710476 ! The natural world is full of a variety of diverse ecological landscapes, terrains and

habitats, many of which have been altered by human society over time. Rivers are no exception, as societies have modified and altered many rivers around the world for navigation and economic purposes. The Rhine, Mississippi, and Volga rivers were modernized and transformed by engineers who were at the forefront of the technological and industrial renaissance during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was not until the mid - late 1900s that society became concerned about the environmental impacts that previous generations had incurred. This paper will be examining two articles, Mark Cioc’s The Rhine as a World River, and Dorothy ZeislerVralsted’s The Cultural and Hydrological Development of the Mississippi and Volga Rivers, which explore the history the three rivers as they have been affected and damaged by society for decades. Donald Worster’s three clusters of issues that environmental history focuses on will be used for comparing the two articles.

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The first of Worster’s three issues is do the authors of the articles exhibit an

understanding of the natural world during the time period they are studying? In a short answer, yes, they do. Both articles are rich with information and references about species of wildlife, environmental conditions, water pollution and more, providing statistics and citations to back up the information they claim. In The Rhine as a World River, Mark Coic shows his knowledge of the natural world surrounding the Rhine with detailed information regarding the river’s length, catchment area, delta discharge, and

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flow speeds. He also points out the changes to the world that humans have caused, such as shortening the main channel by over 100 km, usurping over 80% of the river’s original floodplain, and the rapid flow increase which has created a hostile environment for most fish. Coic notes the environmental changes to the natural world surrounding the Rhine as he documents the industrial advancements occurring to the river. Coic is sure to include the more recent make-up of the Rhine’s natural world, mentioning the damage done by chemical and industrial dumping and the extinction and endangerment of many species that once called the Rhine home. In The Cultural and Hydrological Development of the Mississippi and Volga Rivers, Dorothy Zeisler-Vralsted provides detailed information about the composition of the two rivers. Being two of the longest rivers in the world, she outlines the streams and basins of the rivers as the flow through their countries. Zeisler-Vralsted does not provide as much data and information about the Mississippi and Volga prior to human change as Coic seems to. Instead, she provides more information about the current state of the natural world surrounding the rivers and the damages caused. Loss of wetlands in the Mississippi and poor water quality in the Volga are among the issues she touches. Mark Coic seem to demonstrate a better knowledge of the natural environment he is studying than Dorothy ZeislerVralsted, although she does exhibit a fair amount of knowledge. She does seem to put more emphasis on the economic, political, and social factors, which is what Worster’s second issue concerns.

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The second of Worser’s three issues concerns itself with how socioeconomic

factors affect decisions surrounding the time period. Both authors formed the main bulk

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of their articles around this concept, examining how changing economies and industry needs affected how and why the three rivers were altered and ultimately damaged. Coic examines the construction that occurs on the Rhine from 1815 - 1975, detailing the political and industrial changes that affected the Rhine. He notes the beginning of river engineering being practiced at military engineering schools in the earlier 18th century, and how these principles were put in use for the first Rhine rectification project in 1817. Coic proceeds to explain the economic factors factors that led to the creation of the Rhine Navigation Commission, which removed restriction and obstacles that prevented trading and sailing across all parts of the Rhine. Near the end of his article, Coic examines the devastating effects that emerging chemical firms had on the pollution of the Rhine. He dates the first chemical pollutants back to the early 1900s, and even today the effects are noticeable and ongoing. Zeisler-Vralsted focuses her article on the changes that occurred to the Mississippi and Volga rivers during the 20th century, but also pays attention to how society and culture viewed the rivers before and during that time. Zeisler-Vralsted goes on to describe the first alterations that undergo on both rivers. She talks about the Upper Mississippi River Improvement Association lobbying to authorize a six-foot channel in 1907. Construction of the first canal on the Volga took longer to go through, and in 1931, under Joseph Stalin, the first canal began construction. Both of these projects were driven by a need for commercial shipping to keep local businesses competitive. She proceeds to discuss the construction of large dams on both rivers, and how dam building became “the currency of modernization”. (Zeisler-Vralsted, 2008 in Rivers in History: perspectives on waterways in Europe and North America, Page 77) This was the basis for her stating that engineers and political

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leaders in both societies had abusive attitudes towards nature, leading to the transformation of both rivers into ‘super-highways’. Both authors address economic, cultural, political and social factors that led to the changes in the rivers. Both authors focused mainly on the economic factors as the biggest contributor, however ZeislerVralsted explored more of the cultural and social aspects, which factor into Worster’s third issue.

The final of Worster’s three issues deals with how societies perceptions, laws, ethics, etc. affect the interaction with the natural world. Coic discusses how the renaissance and enlightenment eras led many societies to put industry and engineering on a higher pedestal than environmental sustainability. He does not go into much detail as to how more current cultures observe the alterations made to the Rhine, only mentioning current clean-up efforts near the end of his article. Zeisler-Vralsted goes into much more detail regarding the cultural views of the Mississippi and Volga rivers. She discusses with great detail the various paintings, poems and art that shaped the views of these rivers for generations. She draws comparisons to the beauty and nature of the early depictions of the rivers with how industrialized and modern they look today. ZeislerVralsted defiantly goes more in depth than Coic in regards to how society’s attitudes affected the changes made to the rivers.

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Donald Worster’s assertion that environmental histories focus on three clusters of

issues holds true to both Coic’s and Zeisler-Vralsted’s articles. Coic and Zeisler-Vralsted both demonstrated a keen understanding of how political and socioeconomic affected

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the alteration of the three rivers. Both authors also demonstrated that they understand the natural world in the time period that they were studying, although Coic seemed to exhibit a slightly better understanding on this issue. Again, both authors understood how society’s attitudes affected the interaction with the natural world, however ZeislerVralsted appeared to go more in depth than Coic. Both articles succeeded in asserting Donald Worster’s three issues, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

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Citations

Cioc, Mark. "The Rhine as a World River" in Course Reader for Hist 2250 DE, edited by M. A. Cyphers-Reiche, 145-170. Guelph, ON: University of Guelph, 2011.

Worster, Donald. "Appendix: Doing Environmental History" in Course Reader for Hist 2250 DE, edited by M. A. Cyphers-Reiche, 1-6. Guelph, ON: University of Guelph, 2011.

Zeisler-Vralsted, Dorothy. "The Cultural and Hydrological Development of the Mississippi and Volga Rivers," in Rivers in History: Perspectives on Waterways in Europe and North America, edited by Christof Mauch and Thomas Zeller, 63-77. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008