“Curs, Conquest, and Cullings: Dogs as Symbols and Actors in the Conquest of New England” [Note: This paper represents research in progress. Please do not cite. I am happy to respond to correspondence sent to
[email protected]] By Strother E. Roberts Assistant Professor History Department Bowdoin College At The 24th Annual Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Williamsburg, Virginia June 14th-17th, 2018 1 In the year 1600, New England was home to tens of thousands of indigenous dogs, perhaps as many as 100,000 domesticated canines or more. This population suffered severe losses over the following two centuries. Indeed, all evidence, both historical and that gathered by genetic researchers, suggests the extinction of New England’s indigenous dogs probably occurred sometime in the nineteenth century.1 Of course, the possibility that some descendants of this original population of New England dogs still survive cannot fully be ruled out. It is entirely possible that some portion of the indigenous genome has survived through interbreeding with dogs of primarily European and Asian heritage. But at the very least, the past four centuries have seem the creation of a canine “neo-Europe,” to borrow a term that Alfred Crosby coined to refer to regions outside Europe where the genetic descendants of Europeans now form a majority of the population. The story of how this came to be true is one of tragedy – for both dogs and humans alike. European dogs did not simply out-compete New England’s indigenous dogs, except, perhaps, in the competition for a place in the hearts of the Euro-Americans who came to politically dominate the region.