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Introduction and Overview Historical ecology examines the way humans and their natural surroundings mutually influence one another. In recent years, new issues have been incorporated in this area of study and have implications for management, ethnohistory, interdisciplinary studies and land rights. In terms of management regimes, recent studies raise the distinct possibility that indigenous peoples are competent managers of natural resources. Traditional peoples are not merely adapting and responding to selective pressures of nature, but also thoughtfully creating areas purposefully designed for their own benefit (Balee 2006). Not only are plants encouraged, directed and manipulated (Alcorn 1981), they are also planted and protected to form new landscapes favoring the growth and regrowth of economic species. Similarly, even from the alternative view that indigenous peoples are not as conscientious as some observers would argue, peoples’ activities over the course of human history have certainly left a distinct footprint (Balee 1994). Even if merely regarded as “ecosystem people” (Dasmann 1988), perceived as but one more biological organism in a myriad of species, human agency would still create noteworthy landscapes. While many works on indigenous human ecosystems are laudable in their effort to elevate the status of indigenous peoples and their knowledge of natural resources, what is often left out of the equation is the time-depth of observed landscapes and the complex series of interactions between societies vis-a-vis their environment. While there is little doubt that anthropogenic areas are gaining recognition as an artifact of past human activity, one omission has been to assess the time scale of these transformed areas. This oversight has led some scholars to incorporate areas that were transformed within the last 500 years. What this implies is that the speed, velocity and intensity of globalization have left their mark during the last half millennium leaving in its wake other distinct areas often confused with “indigenous” areas. Yet indigenous areas have indeed created the basis for European settlements and, often, incoming European colonists and their descendents displaced many indigenous groups by settling on land already occupied and transformed by them. In light of these reflections, I examine a few instances in the Historical ecology of the Brazilian Amazon and recommend a few approaches that could help fine tune this area of research.

Putting History Back into Historical Ecology: Some Perspectives on the Recent Human Ecology of the Amazon Basin