The Europeans believed they must live in harmony with the environment

Europeans came from an acquisitive capitalist culture that valued individual wealth and accomplishment. In keeping with their Christian beliefs, most Europeans took literally the biblical admonition to subdue the earth and exert dominion over it. From their perspective, any land that had not been thoroughly settled and cultivated was useless. Indeed, the term "wilderness," used liberally by English settlers across North America to describe the continent's forests, was synonymous with "wasteland" or "desert. Colonists failed to understand that southern Indians used some lands-especially hunting and fishing grounds-without cultivating them. Most Europeans believed they had the right to buy such property (even if Indians did not fully understand the terms of sale) or simply take the land to use as God commanded. In short, they transformed the land and its resources into valuable commodities that could be sold in the world market.