Prompt Cast
The Role of Wood in Early Modern Europe: Perception, Management, and Colonial Ventures
TLDR In early modern England, wood was perceived as a scarce resource and efforts were made to rationalize its use through surveys and assessments. However, attempts to solve wood scarcity through colonization were not economically successful due to various factors. The construction of nature in early modern colonies was politically useful for controlling resources.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Dr. Keith Pluymers discusses his new book, "No Wood, No Kingdom: Political Ecology in the English Atlantic," which focuses on the role of wood in early modern Europe.
04:51
Dr. Keith Pluymers discusses the perception of wood as a scarce resource in early modern England and how this perception was shaped by factors such as commercialization, state surveys, and social conflict.
10:07
The state in early modern England is trying to rationalize the use of wood resources through surveys and assessments in order to determine how much woodland can be leased, sold, or harvested for various purposes, with a focus on long-term sustainable management.
14:58
People in early modern Europe had sophisticated ways of using and managing resources, including specific tree selection and planning for future availability, but these practices did not always result in socially or politically desirable outcomes.
20:20
There is no idyllic past where people were conscious of resource limits and had a sustainable long-term strategy, as resource management varies and conflicts over resource use exist in both early modern and hunter-gatherer societies.
25:15
The concept of political ecology suggests that efforts to understand and define the natural world reflect politics within human societies, and this idea is particularly relevant in the early modern period when it comes to conflicts over resources such as wood and the colonization of the New World.
30:15
Efforts to colonize in order to solve resource scarcity in England, particularly for wood, did not work out as planned and were not economically successful due to various factors such as the cost and risk of shipping, alternative sources of resources, and the difficulty of making money off of colonial ventures.
34:57
Colonization and the success or failure of colonial ventures cannot be seen as inevitable or predetermined, as there were many specific decisions and moments of contingency that shaped the outcomes and alternatives that could have occurred.
39:56
Despite decades of experimentation with colonies to address wood scarcity in England, the debates about defining scarcity, the role of the state, the type of empire, and who should pay for resources continue to persist, with some continuity from the Middle Ages and some new emerging ideas specific to the late 16th and early 17th century.
45:12
The wooded areas in early modern England and North America were not pristine wilderness, but rather managed landscapes shaped by human activity, highlighting the need to consider the political construction of nature and the ways in which humans have shaped these environments.
50:00
The construction of the idea of untouched nature in early modern colonies was politically useful for imposing labor regimes and controlling resources.
Categories:
History
Society & Culture
