The European Timber Market Between the Seventeenth Century and the First World War

The chapter offers a long-term interpretation, from the seventeenth century until the First World War, of the different uses of timber parallel to the general transformation of the European economy in that period. The exports to Great Britain are explained both from the military point of view (introducing the concept of security for the timber trade) and the general economic and later industrial perspective. From the late eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth century, the timber trade faced a long phase of tariff policies and trade restrictions that are explained in detail in the chapter’s core. The following period, until 1914, raises different questions. The complete liberalization of trade and the increasing European demand for timber for many industrial sectors highlight the considerable development of the timber economy in the Baltic area, both on the north and the south shore.