This is a response to the paper by R. Cole Harris (78D/2648). Harris argues that the structure of NW European societies overseas was more a function of the nature of access to land in the new environment than of the particular cultural background of the settlers. In a colonial context such access usually resulted from acquiring land from the native population and this could occur in a number of
... [Show full abstract] ways. Power over labour was also important, and is not necessarily associated with direct access to land.-K.Clayton