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I don’t think that your statement about Great Britain is correct. If so much land were devoted to agriculture in the Middle Ages, there wouldn’t have been much
by dan-robertson 4y ago
I don’t think that your statement about Great Britain is correct. If so much land were devoted to agriculture in the Middle Ages, there wouldn’t have been much of the forests left to devote to shipbuilding during the early–middle modern period.
It is true that some land that is now urban or used for grazing was more once intensively farmed (especially eg in the highlands where most agriculture is sheep farming). But I think the amount of land devoted to crops, and certainly the kind of intensive growing that leaves little room for wildlife is a more modern invention.
I would guess that land devoted to agriculture (maybe except for some kinds of grazing) probably peaked in the 20th century, perhaps during or shortly after the war when food imports were harder to come by.
- whatshisface 4y agoYou're making an assumption about how much forest land would be required to support the shipbuilding that doesn't match what we know about Britain's history of forestation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_in_the_United_Kingdom#/media/File:Woodland_as_a_percentage_of_land_area_in_England.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forestry_in_the_United_Kingdom...
- DoughnutHole 4y agoIf I remember correctly quite a lot of British lumber used for shipbuilding from the Elizabethan era on came from Ireland, which was comparatively well forested in the Middle Ages. You don't need natively forestry so much when you've a subject neighbour to pillage.
- barry-cotter 4y agoReliance on Baltic timber was also why England was so keen to ensure no one power controlled the entrance to the Baltic.