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Can't remember how far back it goes, but the UK had long restricted timber suitable for masts to make sure the Navy got first pick. Wouldn't be surprised to fin
by NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Can't remember how far back it goes, but the UK had long restricted timber suitable for masts to make sure the Navy got first pick. Wouldn't be surprised to find timber restrictions in the UK went back to Henry VIII or Elizabeth I. Trouble was all the good ones were felled first, and much of Europe wanted their own masts too. So Spain, France and UK often had to look to colonies by the 1600s and 1700s for big timber.
- simonh 8y agoI once went on holiday in Croatia, on the dalmatian coast. It’s gorgeous, but the peaks and upper slopes of the hills facing the Adriatic are arid bare earth and rock. In some places it look like a moonscape. Apparently all the trees were felled by the Venetians to build their merchant fleets and the hillsides have never recovered. Scotland used to be covered in forests – all those heather-covered uplands were stripped of trees, largely for shipbuilding.