PTE Reading MC Single Answer
Read the passage and answer the question by selecting the correct response from the options below.
It’s only a little over 200 years since Tasmania was completely wild – wild from a European’s perspective, at least. By the time the first British settlers arrived, Aboriginal people had occupied Tasmania for more than 30,000 years. Their feasting sites were marked by hills of shells on the island’s coastlines, and their use of fire as a land-management tool had left an enduring mark on its botanical communities. But the land bore few other signs of their presence. Until the early 1800s, Tasmania remained free of roads and towns, its forests had never seen an ax or saw, and its rivers flowed freely to the sea. It must have been one of the Earth’s most beautiful places.
According to the passage, a significant human impact on the Tasmanian environment first began_____