Greenland in the center: what happened when the Danish–Norwegian officials met English and Dutch whalers in Disko Bay, 1780–1820

Between 1780 and 1820 crucial changes took place in the economic and cultural relationship between Denmark–Norway and its North Atlantic dependencies. In Greenland, the state imposed a stringent set of social and economic controls, at the same time when the restrictions on trade in Iceland and Northern Norway were relaxed. In 1776 the Royal Greenlandic Trading Company was established, but during the eighteenth century the waters around Greenland were a hub of international whaling trade as Dutch, American, and British ships came into contact with the Inuit, who were legally under Danish-Norwegian social regulation. This article uses records of Danish officials in Greenland and those of incidental observers to understand the disjuncture between the law of Denmark–Norway and the realities of Disko Bay. The officials contended with better equipped foreign ships, the Inuit desire to trade with these ships, and communication problems with the capital. This period is characterized by experimentation with different methods of production, contrasting strongly with the later nineteenth century, in which Danish–Greenlandic policy became more restrictive. By the nineteenth century international whaling trade had followed the declining whale stocks westward to the Canadian and American waters, so Denmark-Norway could impose these restrictions more easily.     

From the Mountains to the Sea—Ki Uta ki Tai: Ecological Enclosure,Interconnection, and Subjectivity in the Commons

This paper explores the ways in which the affective and material dimensions of the commons come together to produce commoner subjectivities. Threats of enclosure can draw attention to the ways in which subjectivity reproduction is dependent on an environment which enables embodied acts of care. Using the example of the East Otago Taiāpure and Waikouaiti Mātaitai, a form of customary fisheries management in New Zealand, this paper illustrates the limitations of the institutionalised commons in its capacity to create an effective caring and protective space. Historical colonial transformation of the landscape and contemporary industrial activities have resulted in an “ecological enclosure” of the area, threatening the health of the ecosystem and its ability to encourage Māori subjectivities, specifically, kaitiakitanga, a relational responsibility to care for the physical and social environment.     

The Location of the Textile Industry in England and Wales, 1813–1820

This article utilises male occupational data recorded in the baptism registers of England and Wales, 1813–1820, to locate the geographical distribution of the textile manufacturing industry at that time. By comparison with female and male occupations abstracted from the 1851 census, it shows that the location was set at least as early as the second decade of the nineteenth century, and before the introduction of steam power or the mechanisation of weaving could have played significant roles. By 1813–1820, the once great regional textile centres of East Anglia and the West Country were no more. Approximately sixty-six per cent of fathers employed in the textile industry lived in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Moreover, textile manufacturing was further concentrated into a small number of parishes. Two-thirds of fathers lived in thirty-six parishes, and fifty per cent resided in only nineteen parishes. An association between the location of the main textile parishes and the proximity of the coal measures is evident. The registers contain a large number of entries for male spinners, reflecting the extent of uptake of Samuel Crompton’s spinning mule. The data confirm that the mule was dominant in cotton spinning within at least thirty years or so of its introduction. By the second decade of the nineteenth century, cotton spinning by hand was a redundant occupation.     

Russia,Turkey, and the Problem of the Black Sea Straits in 1898–1908

The article deals with the main geopolitical problem in Russian—Ottoman relations at the turn of the twentieth century. Using ample archive sources the author shows the course of Russia’s struggle for influence in the straits. He concludes that the Ottoman policy was more flexible and the Turks proved able to assert their interests in the region. At the same time the straits question did not become the cause of any serious escalation between the two powers.     

“One Man's Foolishness Led to the Death of 14 Men”. Norwegian Reactions to Umberto Nobile and the “Italia” Disaster

In the summer of 1928, the dirigible “Italia” with the Italian navigator and constructor Umberto Nobile and his crew crashed in the polar ice north of Spitzbergen. The accident triggered not only the then most extensive rescue operation ever, it also resulted in a national grievance in Norway, when the national hero Roald Amundsen vanished in the sea on his way from Norway to Spitzbergen. Amundsen was flying north to help to find his old companion. With his disappearance the Norwegian attitude towards Nobile and his fellow Italians turned from bad to worse. This unkind attitude was also strengthened when Nobile came out of the ice safe and sound after 1 month. One Norwegian paper called Nobile “a goldgallooned fascist fool”, whose “insane venture had caused the whole tragedy” (Friheten 8 June 1928). Now Nobile was in safety, while Amundsen was gone forever. When the Italian shipwrecked men came to the coastal town of Narvik in Norway to dock for the waiting train to Italy, the locals met them with hostility. Why had the usually friendly and calm Norwegians suddenly become so hostile and unkind?     

The Press and Public Diplomacy in Iran, 1820–1940

The under-appreciated role of the press as a tool of public diplomacy was rooted in its origins as a Qajar state project in the nineteenth century, but also cultivated by a shared impulse of Iranian journalists and statesmen to represent Iran effectively in the court of world opinion. Moreover, foreign governments often reacted to the Iranian press generally, not just the official newspapers and not just newspapers produced in Iran, as a forum though which to advance or protect their interests in Iran. The Pahlavi state integrated the press as part of a larger state-run mass communication policy in the 1930s that would eventually include new technologies such as radio, and retained public diplomacy as an essential purpose of the media. This study draws upon archival material, press accounts, and memoirs.     

Drinking the Fruits of Revolution: Common Land Privatisation and the Expansion of Viticulture in Languedoc,c.1789–1820

This article demonstrates the links between Revolutionary privatisation of village common land and an expansion of viticulture in the department of Gard, southern France. The Jacobin decree of 10 June 1793 authorised the partition of common land, but it was two laws that were passed in reaction to this decree that finally moved considerable amounts of common land into the private domain. Under the law of 9 Ventôse XII and the Royal Ordinance of 23 June 1819 much communal land was privatised in the Gard, through either sale or lease. Most of this land took the form of Mediterranean garrigue hillsides, which were ideal for viticulture. Specific evidence from the implementation of these laws shows that a significant amount of this newly privatised land was planted with grape vines. This scenario makes sense as viticulture and the wine market remained buoyant throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic decades.

Résumé:?Cet article démontre les liens entre la privatisation des communaux sous la révolution et l'expansion de la viticulture dans le département du Gard. Les décrets du 10 juin 1793 autorisaient les répartitions des communaux mais ce sont les deux lois suivantes qui finalisèrent cette redistribution des terres. Sous la loi du 9 Ventôse XII et l'ordonnance royale du 23 juin 1819 les communaux du Gard furent privatisés ou loués. Ces terres, principalement des collines de garrigue, étaient propre à la viticulture et furent plantées participant à la production nationale de cette période.