| The sequence of population explosion and increasing wood usage leading to decline of the forests and soils, followed by decline of an empire, was repeated in the Mediterranean region after the fall of Rome. The Egyptian empire, from around the seventh to tenth centuries A.D., and the Venetian Republic, between 500 and 1500 A.D., both went through cycles of expansion and contraction influenced by wood supplies. Timber supplies for building huge fleets of war ships and ships for trading were of constant strategic importance. By the late 1500's, it was cheaper to have ships built in Northern Europe for owners in Venice, than to use wood from local sources. |
| Although the Romans had used England's forests for fuel, by the sixteenth century A.D. those forests had recovered enough to support several booming industries--copper smelting, salt production, glass making, and of course, shipbuilding. Wood was also in heavy demand for building supplies and for domestic fuel. Over and over again, common people had trouble finding enough wood to heat and cook with, as industrial uses of wood intensified. As the forests dwindled in areas near the sea or close to river transport, unsuccessful attempts were made to enact laws for forest conservation. |
Above: Although many forests have been cut down, some areas of England are naturally open plains and were never covered with trees. Photo credit Corel Photo Clipart CD. Below: One of the most important uses of wood was for shipbuilding. Photo credit Corel Photo Clipart CD. |
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As England's rulers chalked up greater debts, they became ever more eager to sell off the forests--particularly to their friends who ran the empire's iron industry. Between about 1600 and 1640, the English cut down the forests of Ireland to fuel their ironworks and build ships. |
| The British navy was constantly short of wood. Even in the late sixteenth century, it took about 2,000 oak trees at least 100 years old to build one large warship. Meanwhile, the ironworks were using massive amounts of English wood to make cannons and sell them to foreigners. Then, in 1666, London burned to the ground, and finding enough wood to rebuild the city was very difficult. |
| By about 1670, the Royal Navy started importing timber from the Baltic forests--from Russia, Sweden, Poland, and Germany--to build ships. The navy was even interested in timber from the new American colonies. The tall white pine trees of New England were in great demand for ships masts. This lead to conflicts, because the colonists wanted to cut these trees too. Conflict over control of the forests in the colonies was one factor that lead to the American Revolution in 1776. | As the colonies grew and prospered, they consumed more and more wood--for construction, shipbuilding and fuel. By the time of the Revolution, America was producing as much iron as the British Isles. And from that iron, Americans were also producing their own armaments. |
| By the mid 1800's, most of the timber in the New England States had been used up, and wood cutters had to move on to Michigan and the Great Lakes Region to start on those forests. Eventually, they would have to move again, and again--to the forests of the Southeast, and then to the Pacific Northwest. After the mid 1800's wood was used less and less as a fuel, but many other uses for wood products have been discovered. And of course, the demand for construction lumber has continued to increase. |
Wood buildings do not last as long as stone ones, so we usually don't see evidence of the wood structures from
ancient civilizations. Today, however, many buildings are still being constructed from wood. Photo credit Corel Photo Clipart CD.
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