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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.

Environmental history emerged in the United States out of the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and much of its impetus still stems from present‐day global environmental concerns (Chakrabarti 2006). The field was founded on conservation issues but has broadened in scope to include more general social and scientific history and may deal with cities, population, or sustainable development. As all history occurs in the natural world, environmental history tends to focus on particular time‐scales, geographic regions, or key themes. It is also a strongly multidisciplinary subject that draws widely on both the humanities and natural science.

The subject matter of environmental history can be divided into three main components (Chakrabarti 2007). The first, nature itself and its change over time, includes the physical impact of humans on the Earth's land, water, atmosphere, and biosphere. The second category, how humans use nature, includes the environmental consequences of increasing population, more effective technology, and changing patterns of production and consumption. Other key themes are the transition from nomadic hunter‐gatherer communities to settled agriculture in the Neolithic Revolution, the effects of colonial expansion and settlements, and the environmental and human consequences of the industrial and technological revolutions (Cronon 1995). Finally, environmental historians study how people think about nature – the way attitudes, beliefs, and values influence interaction with nature, especially in the form of myths, religion, and science.