ABSTRACT
Two major transformations in New England land and life took place between 1600 and 1860. The first, a colonial ecological revolution, occurred during the seventeenth century and was externally generated. The second transformation, a capitalist ecological revolution, took place roughly between the American Revolution and about 1860. Ecological revolutions are brought about through interactions between production and ecology and between production and reproduction. New England is a significant historical example because several types of production evolved within the bounds of its present geographical area. Although the biological reproduction of life itself is possible only through the necessary connections between inter- and intragenerational reproduction, the community itself is maintained by social reproduction. In addition, the political, legal, and governmental structures helped to maintain the mode of production and reproduce the social whole. The superposition of scientific, quantitative approaches to nature and its resources characterized the capitalist ecological revolution.
