Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic
Abstract The forests of British North America were integral to Britain's maritime empire. Many of these timbers exist today as wooden beams and flooring at historical dockyards and garrisons such as the Royal Naval Dockyard of Bermuda. In this paper, we investigate what timbers from this Dockya...
Published in: | Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cag.12831 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cag.12831 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/cag.12831 |
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crwiley:10.1111/cag.12831 2024-06-02T08:11:11+00:00 Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic Greer, Kirsten Csank, Adam Calvert, Kirby Maddison‐MacFadyen, Margot Smith, Andrew Monk, Kimberly Morrison, Sabrina Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cag.12831 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cag.12831 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/cag.12831 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes volume 67, issue 1, page 124-138 ISSN 0008-3658 1541-0064 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12831 2024-05-03T11:36:40Z Abstract The forests of British North America were integral to Britain's maritime empire. Many of these timbers exist today as wooden beams and flooring at historical dockyards and garrisons such as the Royal Naval Dockyard of Bermuda. In this paper, we investigate what timbers from this Dockyard can tell us about interconnections and empire‐building throughout the North Atlantic region. To do this we drew from approaches of critical physical geography, historical geography, and dendroprovenancing by using timber as a way to interrogate collaboratively the changes in—and connections across—socio‐ecological landscapes. We examined HM Customs records between 1825 and 1850 to determine the flow of timbers to Bermuda. We then sampled timbers from buildings constructed between 1825 and 1853 and analyzed them using isotopic and dendrochronological techniques to establish the probable location of origin of the timber samples. HM Customs records showed that prior to the 1840s, timbers primarily came from British North America, whereas post‐1840 timbers primarily came from the southeastern United States, with some still coming from Europe and British North America. To establish whether timber use by the Royal Navy and Royal Engineers matched the pattern in the customs documents, we looked to the dendrochronological records. Dendrochronologic evidence showed that military construction followed the same pattern, with buildings constructed pre‐1840 using material from British North America and buildings constructed post‐1840 using timbers sourced from the southeastern United States. Finally, using this information we explore some of the connections between regions, in terms of resource use, and the implications of those uses—for example, that the British Admiralty continued to benefit from the practices of slavery through the use of products produced from enslaved labour in other parts of the North Atlantic well after emancipation . Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Wiley Online Library Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes 67 1 124 138 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
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English |
description |
Abstract The forests of British North America were integral to Britain's maritime empire. Many of these timbers exist today as wooden beams and flooring at historical dockyards and garrisons such as the Royal Naval Dockyard of Bermuda. In this paper, we investigate what timbers from this Dockyard can tell us about interconnections and empire‐building throughout the North Atlantic region. To do this we drew from approaches of critical physical geography, historical geography, and dendroprovenancing by using timber as a way to interrogate collaboratively the changes in—and connections across—socio‐ecological landscapes. We examined HM Customs records between 1825 and 1850 to determine the flow of timbers to Bermuda. We then sampled timbers from buildings constructed between 1825 and 1853 and analyzed them using isotopic and dendrochronological techniques to establish the probable location of origin of the timber samples. HM Customs records showed that prior to the 1840s, timbers primarily came from British North America, whereas post‐1840 timbers primarily came from the southeastern United States, with some still coming from Europe and British North America. To establish whether timber use by the Royal Navy and Royal Engineers matched the pattern in the customs documents, we looked to the dendrochronological records. Dendrochronologic evidence showed that military construction followed the same pattern, with buildings constructed pre‐1840 using material from British North America and buildings constructed post‐1840 using timbers sourced from the southeastern United States. Finally, using this information we explore some of the connections between regions, in terms of resource use, and the implications of those uses—for example, that the British Admiralty continued to benefit from the practices of slavery through the use of products produced from enslaved labour in other parts of the North Atlantic well after emancipation . |
author2 |
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Greer, Kirsten Csank, Adam Calvert, Kirby Maddison‐MacFadyen, Margot Smith, Andrew Monk, Kimberly Morrison, Sabrina |
spellingShingle |
Greer, Kirsten Csank, Adam Calvert, Kirby Maddison‐MacFadyen, Margot Smith, Andrew Monk, Kimberly Morrison, Sabrina Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic |
author_facet |
Greer, Kirsten Csank, Adam Calvert, Kirby Maddison‐MacFadyen, Margot Smith, Andrew Monk, Kimberly Morrison, Sabrina |
author_sort |
Greer, Kirsten |
title |
Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic |
title_short |
Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic |
title_full |
Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: Towards critical dendroprovenancing in the British North Atlantic |
title_sort |
understanding the historic legacies of empire from the timbers left behind: towards critical dendroprovenancing in the british north atlantic |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cag.12831 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/cag.12831 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/cag.12831 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes volume 67, issue 1, page 124-138 ISSN 0008-3658 1541-0064 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12831 |
container_title |
Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes |
container_volume |
67 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
124 |
op_container_end_page |
138 |
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1800757240985026560 |