| Book Review | Environmental History, 12.4

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| Book Review | Environmental History, 12.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Rural Protest on Prince Edward Island: From British Colonization to the Escheat Movement. By Rusty Bittermann. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006. xii + 382 pp. Maps, notes, bibliography, and index. Paper $29.95.
Rusty Bittermann's exhaustive study of the Escheat movement is a must for academics interested in Prince Edward Island history in the first forty years of the nineteenth century.	1
The Escheat movement had its roots in Britain's decision following the Seven Years War to divide Prince Edward Island into lots and distribute them to influential men in Great Britain. In return for this land, the landlords promised to settle one-hundred Protestants (none of whom could be from Great Britain) in each lot within ten years, and pay an annual quit rent. Most owners ignored these obligations, and many sold their land within the first few years. By 1800, a small number of people controlled most of the colony's resources. About one-third of the rural population held lands as freeholders, while the remainder were tenants or squatters. Since it took many years of backbreaking work to build a farm that generated sufficient income to pay the rent, most tenants fell behind in their rent payments. As nonpayment could lead to eviction (without compensation for improvements), especially for the large number of tenants without written contracts, this situation created a sense of insecurity.	. . .

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