North Carolina Landscape
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The landscape of North Carolina was changed drastically by the migration of people and the exchange of goods from the Old World to the New World. Many of these changes, just like that of disease, are unintended consequences of the Columbian Exchange. For example, today pine trees are known for being from the Piedmont region of North Carolina. However, according to Simmons (1999), "...pine trees — now a fixture of the Piedmont landscape — accounted for a small percentage of Piedmont acreage. Pines became the dominant tree in much of the Piedmont only after European settlers began clearing vast sections of hardwood trees to create farmland in the 1700s, followed by the abandonment of many farms." Another factor that played a major role in the landscape of the Piedmont region of North Carolina is forest fires. In more modern years, people have prevented forest fires from causing damage. However, many years ago forest fires often were used by farmers to clear fields and would burn for days eating up thousands of acres in the process. These fires would help to clear trees and leave open prairies for wild grass to grow for grassing. "Once fires became a rarity, the landscape inevitably changed. The forest slowly crept onto the grasslands. First, the bison and elk disappeared from the Piedmont prairie. Soon thereafter, so did the prairie itself." (Simmons, 1999). These are just a couple of the many ways that the Columbian Exchange impacted the landscape of the Piedmont, North Carolina region.