Something mentioned in some other thread, about the short histories in some parts of the world, got me thinking about this. I live in a part of the world that is very newly developed - the town started in about 1907; my house, built in 1912, is one of the oldest here.

Two hundred years ago, in Jan 1806, the nearest permanent human structures to my home would be at the fort, about 200 kilometers to the west. This was a Hudson's Bay fort, not Army, and so would have had *maybe* thirty white men - probably many less, at this time of year. There was also a Metis settlement about the same distance to the north. No other house building people anywhere around. If there were any Indians in the neighbourhood at the time, they would be down in the river valley, about 20 kilometers away. Shelter, water, wood, and abundant game.
Even in summer, the chances are that no one would have come anywhere near here. The old buffalo trail is some way north of town, there is no water just here. No reason for anyone, of any race, to camp here, unless caught short; they would have pushed on and camped near the lake three kilometers away. It is entirely possible that no human foot ever crossed what is now my back yard until a couple of years before the house was built.

How about your home? What did it look like out your window, 200 years ago?

Well, this town has been here for quite a long time: the battle which was fought near here 940 years ago is one of the few dates in our national history that everyone knows.

But it was still quite a small place 200 years ago. It would still have been virtually confined to the Old Town, which is cut off from my field of view by the Castle Hill to the south-east. The terraces of houses on the hillsides wouldn’t have been there in 1800, and neither would the main shopping area to the south, nor the pier. In fact, there wouldn’t have been much to see from the front of this block at all, except for the castle ruins on the hilltop and the sea. On a clear night I might have been able to see smugglers at work (there seems to have been a barn about 100 yards from where I’m now living that was a regular hide-out for them), but I hope I’d have had the sense to mind my own business: they didn’t have much compunction about shooting anyone who got in their way.

To the north, the view now is mainly late 19th and 20th century housing with a few fields and little patches of woodland. Two hundred years ago it would probably have been farmland, with an occasional big house and a few cottages.

The town would have been starting to expand. The vogue for sea bathing would already be attracting visitors, and there would have been plenty of labourers lodging there while they worked on the coastal defences against Napoleon. But I wouldn’t have seen much of that from where I am: I’d have had to take a short walk to the other side of the hill.

There's a beautiful Australian children's book on this topic called 'My Place' by Nadia Wheatley and Donna Rawlins. It starts in 1988 with a girl called Laura talking about the old terrace house she lives in (presumably in Sydney), and then each page steps back in time with the children who lived on that same piece of land talking about themselves. It ends with an Aboriginal girl living on the land in 1788 - the year that Europeans came to Australia. Great way for children to think about social history.

As for my home ... 200 years ago Europeans had only just settled in Tasmania - and I don't think any had settled here yet. I'm not sure if there were Aborigines living around here - but I expect so. The view from where my window is now would probably have been coastal bush and you could have heard the waves on the beach - as I can now at night when there are no cars and kids around.

My house was built closer to 100 years ago. This area was a holiday village accessed from Hobart by ferry before there was a decent road. Apparently there was a law at some point that on Sundays pubs could only serve alcohol to travellers ....so as well as coming down to spend a day at the beach people would travel down here to visit the pub.

1803 was the year the US made the Louisiana Purchase. My town is very close to the center of the land purchased at that time. Three years was not enough time to settle this area, really. In 1814 a town about 45 miles from here was first settled. My town was established in 1856, and I have the original abstract for my home and property, the first entry in which is dated 1867. I'm sure some time after the Louisiana Purchase, but until the property was sold to developers in 1867, the property was considered "military land" which is what it is called in the abstract entry. But I'm also sure that in 1806, before the land was settled by Europeans, it was used by the Oto tribes of the area, at least until they were run off.

So, 200 years ago, in 1806, the land my home sits on was probably plains as far as the eye could see. Being January, it was most likely a gently rolling sea of white snow, possibly just a light dusting on the golden-dead grasses. There were probably no permanent structures anywhere near here, and few trees. Just the very gentle rolling hills.

The province of Ontario started to be settled in the year 1792. Burlington Bay held one of the earliest settlements, so in 1805 we were probably a small town with the lake on one side, surrounded on the other three sides by the Long Woods - an area of forest that extended from Toronto to Windsor.

It appears this small area of NW Arkansas was first settled by Italian immigrant Henri de Tonti in 1686. The modest riverbank settlement and vineyard he established was subsequently named Tontitown and is about four miles from here. It was once home to generations of Italian immigrants, and is still a beautiful place, with it's green rolling hills and lush foliage in the spring.

Like Loth's beloved Nebraska prairies, Arkansas was also part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

Hmmm. In 1803, however, it is doubtful anything stood on this exact spot. I often wonder about such things and was happy to see this question pop up.
As far as we know this property wasn't occupied until the late 1870's when a dairy farm was established here. We live in the second farm house which was built here, sometime in the early 1900's.

We have found tantalizing clues out in the backyard,like empty victorian perfume bottles and horseshoes...but nothing to really tell us anything. All everyday, anonymous items which could have been discarded by anyone. I would love to know more, but sadly, this community was overtaken by rabid developers and industry chiefs in the late 1960's. Except for the part of town we live in, all traces of former communities have been ravaged for parking lots and steel framed banks.

And from the sad lack of photographs or records dating before WWII, I can assume those same developers and city fathers had little regard for the people who worked so hard to settle this area.

200 years ago, most of the buildings in this area (Broxbourne, England) didn't exist, but there are approx 260 listed local buildings of historical interest, many of which would have been visible from our house. We live on fairly high ground overlooking a wide river valley, the far side of which is about 4 miles away and clearly visible from our garden. 200 years ago, apart from the houses in the foreground, the view would have been similar. the Church of St. Augustine, about quarter mile away and built around 1460 would have been clearly visible, as would the local museum, Lowewood House, which was built as a private dwelling in 1780. The 'New River' completed during the reign of James I in 1613 is only a few hundred metres away, and unless obscured by woods, would also have been in view winding its way towards London, where then as now it provides much of the drinking water supply.

200 years ago this would have been a farmer's field. The estate in which I live was only built about 35 years ago, in fact I can remember part of it as a building site 33 years ago when a colleague lived here and I used to babysit.

There are traces of inhabitants from 4000 BC in the Island so 200 years ago is very recent. In fact I found this quote on the BBC website...

"250,000 years ago, the first people appeared on Jersey. They were nomadic hunters, and used the caves at St. Brelade as a base whilst hunting mammoth."

I live in St Brelade.

I have just checked and in the 1800s a number of wealthy French people settled here to escape the revolution.

Well, the first stone for the formal city of Canberra was laid in 1913. The area wasn't 'discovered' until 1820, but apparently Black Mountain was climbed during that first exploration, and it's only a few kilometres away from where I live now. The first land grant was taken up in 1824, near the site of some Aboriginal slab huts. The property was named 'Canberry' as the Aborigines apparently called the place 'Kamberra' meaning 'meeting place', referring either to the rivers which crossed in the valley, or the practice of the tribes meeting to feast on Bogong moths in the nearby hills. The local legend has it, however, that the word 'Kamberra' actually meant something like 'place where young girls' breasts meet' and referred to the hills around the valleys of what is now Canberra. No points for guessing which version of the story I favour!

The oldest building still standing only dates back to about 1833, and is now the Officers' Mess and the Commandant's office of the Royal Military College (Duntroon).

Where my little house actually stands would have been open grassland, which I can still get a taste of when I look out my bedroom window passed the courtyard and see the little park. The swings and bright blue rocky horsies probably weren't there 200 years ago though...