Part 1: History of the Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed

Part I. The History of the Chesapeake Bay and its Watershed

Study of the interaction of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, past and present, helps humans to better understand ecological systems and the effects of human activities on those systems.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed has social and political values.
1. Historically, the Chesapeake Bay watershed has affected the development, movement, and size of human societies. Early settlements were founded on large, navigable rivers.
2. Questions and issues about the Chesapeake Bay watershed have influenced alliances and conflicts between and within communities, societies, and states.
  1. Chesapeake 2000 Agreement
  2. Virginia/Maryland Potomac Agreement
The Chesapeake Bay watershed issues can affect national, regional, and local activities.

Print version of "About the Watershed": PDF • Word

Bay Plain and Piedmont: A Landscape History of the Chesapeake Heartland from 1.3 Billions Years Ago to 2000. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/pubs/gateways/plainandpiedmont/HF-WHOLE%20BOOK.pdf>.

A Capsule History of the Chesapeake Bay. Kent Mountford. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/hist1.htm>.

Chesapeake 2000 Agreement. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/c2k.htm>.

Chesapeake Bay Assessment and Program Initiatives. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. <http://www.deq.state.va.us/wqa/pdf/305b/threefive.pdf>.

Chesapeake Bay History. Chesapeake Bay Program. <http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/history.cfm>. (Includes African-American history in the Bay region.)

"Colonial Period: Exploration of the Chesapeake Bay." The Mariners Museum. <http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/colonial/col007.html>.