Control over the Environment

As the Puritans arrived to America they were immediately faced with the issue of survival. They were desperate to use whatever means possible to control the environment to use it to their advantage, in order to survive. They began clearing forests, farming plants that aren't native to the land, killing the wildlife, building modern homes (for that era), and driving back the natives. It was their beleif that since they were holy, God entitled them to the land and they should have all control over it, even if that meant forcing the people who have lived there for many years to leave. Controling the environment played a vital role in the development of the puritans, and allowed their colonies to expand and flourish driving the indians further west, ultimately developing America as we see it today. If the puritans didn't adapt the land to their life styles instead of adapting their life styles to the land, they simply wouldn't have expanded to the magnitude in which they did. In fact they would probably not have survived to long on the other side of the pond, and the land would have forced the puritans back home to practice religion under the church of England.