Economic History

The Sea-Otter and History

Across the Pacific, writes C.M. Yonge, from northern Japan to the Californian coastline, the relentless hunt for the sea-otter’s precious fur had international consequences.

The English Medieval Windmill

Windmills abounded in England from the twelfth century onwards. Terence Paul Smith describes how their bodies usually revolved on a vertical post so that the miller could face the sails into the wind.

The Blockade of the Smugglers

The English south coast lay at the mercy of smugglers, writes Christopher Lloyd, until a full-scale blockade from 1817 gradually brought them under control.

Smuggling in the War of 1812

During the War of 1812, writes Harvey Strum, profit proved more persuasive than patriotism to many New Yorkers and Vermonters, who continued to supply the British forces in Canada.

Ladakh: Barrier or Entrepot?

An island in a sea of mountains, as Sarah Searight describes it, the Indian region of Ladakh was once a cosmopolitan centre of pilgrimage and trade.

The End of Serfdom in Britain

Henry Marsh describes how England and Scotland became the first European countries to begin freeing their serfs, towards the close of the twelfth century.

Stop on the Exchequer

Eynon Smart describes how, when the third Dutch War began in 1672, Charles II and his Ministers were faced with financial needs; a reprieve for the Exchequer was their answer, but it disturbed the country’s banking system.