Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
groups, who actively shaped the environment long before the arrival of
European explorers. Archeological evidence suggests that a highly mobile
population created temporary campsites as far back as 6000 B.C. At the
time of initial European contact the region was dotted with small semi-
permanent villages, where Native Americans cultivated corn, pumpkins,
and other crops in addition to engaging in hunting and gathering activities.
Native agricultural patterns and the practice of burning undergrowth to
maintain a favorable environment for deer and other game produced a
more open, seemingly natural park-like landscape than the dense second-
growth forest that prevails in undeveloped areas today. John White's 1585
depiction of an Indian village along the Potomac (figure 1), while undoubt-
edly idealized, suggested the degree to which the indigenous inhabitants
transformed their “natural” surroundings for a variety a purposes ranging
from sustenance and habitation to ritual and recreation.
3
The first Europeans to reach the Washington area viewed its natural
attributes largely in terms of their potential for economic exploitation. In
1631 Henry Fleet touted the region's salubrious climate and abundant nat-
ural resources. John Smith similarly noted the ease with which the native
inhabitants supplied themselves with the necessities of life and suggested
that European settlers could easily turn a profit from the region's rich nat-
ural advantages. The fertile lowlands below the future site of Washington
were ideal for agricultural development, and tobacco plantations dotted the
banks of the Potomac by the middle of the eighteenth century. Natural har-
bors such as Georgetown and Alexandria rapidly grew into bustling com-
munities. The low-lying land between Rock Creek and the Anacostia
River, which would eventually become central Washington, remained
sparsely settled, with a few proprietors maintaining large but mostly unde-
veloped holdings.
4
Geography combined with politics and philosophy to establish the
nation's capital in its current location. The result was a brand new city sit-
uated by congressional fiat and surveyed as a highly rational geometric
abstraction yet strongly influenced by local topography and broader geo-
graphic concerns. While the 10-mile-square District of Columbia epito-
mized the era's Enlightenment-based concern for order and balance, this
intellectual abstraction was intimately tied to the physical properties of the
site. The starting point of the original survey was the tip of Jones Point, a
natural promontory extending into the Potomac just south of Alexandria.
The ring of hills surrounding the federal city presented natural boundaries
