Roots of Empire Forests and State Power in Early Modern Spain, C.1500-1750

About this book

Roots of Empire is the first monograph to connect forest management and state-building in the early modern Spanish global monarchy. The Spanish crown's control over valuable sources of shipbuilding timber in Spain, Latin America, and the Philippines was critical for developing and sustaining its maritime empire. Roots of Empire examines Spain's forest management policies from the sixteenth century through the middle of the eighteenth century, connecting the global imperial level with local lived experiences in forest communities impacted by this manifestation of expanded state power. As home to the early modern world's most extensive forestry bureaucracy, Spain met serious political, technological, and financial limitations while still managing to address most of its timber needs without upending the social balance.

Contents

Introducing Spanish State Forestry

1: A New State Forestry for the First Global Age
2: Forests of the Ultramar
3: The Struggle to Stay Afloat in the Seventeenth Century
4: Bottoming Out and Revival under the First Bourbon, 1700-1746
5: The Triumph of State Forestry: 1748-1754

General Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

John T. Wing, Ph.D. (2009), University of Minnesota, is Assistant Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, The City University of New York. He has published articles on Spanish forest history in Environmental History and the Journal of Early Modern History.