Nations’ fortunes often grow, fall along with their forest resources
Chesapeake Bay Journal/Feb 2010
Archaeologists in Maryland’s Historic St. Mary’s City recently unearthed a small commemorative medal. It bore the Latin inscription which, translated, reads “Gradivus [Mars] Governs the Sword. Themis [Justice] Herself Governs the Scepter.” The likeness on the obverse was that of Gustav II Adolphus, Sweden’s famous warrior king.
This seemingly out-of-place artifact offers a cautionary tale of how the rise and fall of nations is often linked to their natural resources. In the Chesapeake Bay, we have lost a lot of forests, and we will be in danger of losing more if we don’t pay attention to the history of other nations as well as our own.
Fourteen years ago, ecologist Howard T. Odum sent me a paper that he and three colleagues-a historian, a forester and systems ecologist-had written that demonstrated the power of forests as a renewable system for harvesting energy. Using Odum’s ecological principles, they showed how natural resources had been used to further Swedish national interests during a period of wild expansionism and how exceeding the forests’ replacement capacity contributed to the subsequent decline of Swedish influence.
Empire-building among European powers during the 16th and 17th centuries was terribly wasteful. The philosophy was often that “a war should feed itself.” That is, the assets of a conquered or invaded people should be taken to support the military on its marches.
Swedish national aspirations began with the ascent of Gustav Eriksson, known as ‘Gustav Vasa,’ who ruled 1520-27. He was succeeded by Charles IX, and he in turn by Gustavus II Adolphus, third of the Vasa kings, who reigned from 1611 until 1632, when he died fighting in Germany. This period overlaps a major part of the English colonization story so often visited in this column.
Gustavus Adolphus continued to build what became an influential Swedish Empire. He was helped by Sweden’s vast, boreal forests. These stood behind Sweden as well as any army in reserve as a source of energy-firewood and charcoal-for the extraction of iron, copper, silver and durable materials for shipbuilding.
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