2025/08/26 by Yuichi Hiono · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Arts and Humanities · #Canadian Identity and History #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Historical Studies on Spain
paper · doi:10.1080/03086534.2025.2547393
openalex publication_date 2025/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/22
This study examines the role of Canadian forest resources in British imperial expansion, highlighting how environmental factors such as timber supply influenced imperial policies, naval strategies, and territorial acquisitions from the late seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth century. Britain maintained a keen interest in North American forest resources from the perspective of enhancing its maritime power. This was articulated as a crucial consideration in the prosecution of warfare against France and imperial expansion in North America by contemporary politicians, administrators, military personnel, and pamphleteers. The British Empire's environmental approach to Canada, specifically regarding forest resources for naval power, was intimately connected with its approach to the Thirteen Colonies, while serving as justification for expansion into Canada. This study reveals how environmental rhetoric transformed into practical policy, particularly through the establishment of Halifax as a naval base. It also argues that expectations regarding natural resources, especially their naval value, served as a driving force behind imperial territorial expansion, emphasising the reciprocal relationship between political activities and environmental discourse. By examining how developments in one region influenced others, this study illuminates how territorial expansion and resource procurement expectations were bidirectionally linked, manifesting in political discourse during both war and peace.