The Colonial Commons

The conflict between settlers and indigenous people over animal ownership and resources had both material and metaphysical dimensions. It involved the control of resources and differing conceptions of reality. Settlers believed in owning animals as private property, while indigenous people viewed them as part of the natural world to be hunted but not owned. The settlers' perspective was rooted in a metaphysical framework where animals, like the natural world, were seen as things granted by God for humans to own. This belief shaped the settlers' notion of the commons, transforming it into a resource to be exploited and enclosed by settlers without the traditional rules of sharing seen in England.