Why The Fortunate Isles

The Fortunate Isles were a group islands that were taken over, or what could be said as “Europeanized”, by colonists from France and Portugal. These islands, which included the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands, were introduced to features native to Europe that affected its environment and population greatly. European explorers traveled the world, searching for new trade options, when they came across the Fortunate Isles. The colonists believed they had stumbled across free land, which just so happened to be rich in fertile soil for many types of crops. They wanted to make a profit of the islands, and decided to bring over aspects from their homeland, with no regard for the natives of the islands, the Guanches. Seeing an option for profit, Europeans brought all sorts of flora and fauna to the islands in order to mass produce them for sale. The types of flora they brought included ducks, chickens, partridges, pigeons, rabbits, camels, asses, and cattle. Agriculture brought to the islands were melons, pears, grapevines, apples, and one of the most important, sugar. Sugar proved to be a popular commodity around the world, and these islands seemed a perfect place to mass produce these crops. Consequently, Europeans brought slaves as well to the islands, which would mark the beginning of a trade route to these islands, as well …show more content…
The land was flattened and replaced with pastures and fields for sugar cane. An overpopulation of rabbits and asses began to eat away grass and agriculture to the point of a drop in value. In response, the Europeans attempted to control the population by slaughtering the very animals they had brought over. The islands’ natives watched as their once living and breathing territory was turned into a wasteland prone to floods and droughts do to its flat landscape. Soon the land was covered in plantations and areas of foreign weeds that seemed to cover mostly everything else on the