Cascadia: Environment and History of the Pacific Northwest

This course explores the environmental, ecological, and cultural ties of this region along the west coast of North America between today’s southern Alaska and northern California. Students will investigate how this unique physical geography has shaped human societies and how people in turn continually reshape these landscapes and waterscapes. This course begins with examining how natural processes such as glaciers, plate tectonics, and volcanic activity created the circumstances for the region’s Indigenous Peoples, who for thousands of years maintained deep connections across this expanse. Then, we will shift toward the rapid Euro-American colonization of the region, focusing on issues including Indigenous/settler relations, the creation and implications of political borders, industrial and urban development, and the impacts of global climate change.