Turner created an evolutionary model (he had studied evolution with a prominent geologist), using the time dimension of American history and the geographic space of the land that became the United States. The first settlers who arrived on the East Coast in the 17th century acted and thought like Europeans. They found themselves facing a new environmental challenge that was very different from what they had known. The most important difference was large amounts of high-quality unused agricultural land (some of which was used by a few thousand Indians as hunting grounds). They adapted to their new environment in certain ways: the sum of all the adaptations over the years would have made them Americans. The next generation moved further inland. He discarded other European aspects that were no longer useful, for example, established churches, established aristocracies, invasive government, and control of the best lands by a small class of nobles. Each generation moved further west and became more American, and the colonists became more democratic and less tolerant of hierarchy. They have become more violent, more individualistic, more distrustful of authority, less artistic, less scientific, and more dependent on the ad hoc organizations they have formed. Generally speaking, the further west you go, the more American the community. Many of Turner's arguments, however, show serious limitations when examined more closely. One of the most critical is its failure to consider First Nations as a major player in colonial history and instead reduce their role to that of mere resistance to English settlement. It also ignores the importance of the fur trade, even though it was a catalyst for intense commercial rivalry for the New England colonies, New France, and the Indians themselves. Finally, Turner's characterization of the frontier as a purely Western and English phenomenon completely ignores the frontier faced by French settlers on their western and southern borders, as well as the northern frontier of English colonies such as New York and Massachusetts. Initially the frontier was the Atlantic coast. It was the frontier of Europe in the true sense of the word. As the frontier moved westward it became increasingly American. Just as successive terminal moraines result from successive glaciations, so each frontier leaves its traces behind, and when it becomes an inhabited area the region still participates in frontier characteristics. Therefore the advancement of the frontier meant a constant distancing from the influence of Europe, a constant growth of independence on the American model.