Environmental history
![General view of Funkville in 1864, Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, USA](/Images/godic/202501/10/Penn_oil_18643847.jpg")
![Nature preservationist John Muir with US President Theodore Roosevelt (left) on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park](/Images/godic/202501/10/Muir_and_Roosevelt_restored3847.jpg")
![Frontier historian Frederick Jackson Turner (1861–1932)](/Images/godic/202501/10/Frederick_Jackson_Turner3847.jpg")
![The 77 km long Panama Canal, opened in 1914, connects the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, replacing a long and treacherous shipping route passing via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the tip of South America. Construction was plagued by problems, including disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and landslides. By the time the canal was completed, a total of 27,500 French and American workmen are estimated to have died.](/Images/godic/202501/10/Panama_canal_panoramic_view_from_the_top_of_Ancon_hill3847.jpg")
Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time. In contrast to other historical disciplines, it emphasizes the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs. Environmental historians study how humans both shape their environment and are shaped by it.