Cod's Effects on Commerce/Trade
"Salt fish were stacked on the wharves, looking like corded wood, maple and yellow birch with the bark left on, I mistook them for this at first, and such in one sense they were, -fuel to maintain our vital fires- an eastern wood which grew on the Grand Banks" Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod, 1851
- In the Basque civilization, they were able to gain large profits on whale meat as they could use the dried cod on ships to keep the crew maintained for a longer period of time
- Vikings followed the range of the Atlantic cod as general places of cod commerce/ trade
- The preservable cod allowed many countries to save money on expeditions because they had to spend less money on provisions for ships
- Basques were the first to make great commerce on the selling of cod in the Mediterranean sea
- Many merchants and fisherman gained large gains on Fridays because of the Church declaring no meat on Fridays
- Cities were based on the cod industry, such as Bristol in England, Aveiro in Portugal, and Plymouth and Boston in Massachusetts
- The Hanseatic League attempted to monopolize cod in Europe by preventing Bristol merchants from buying Icelandic cod thus increasing profits of Hanseatic League
- Cabot's reports of enormous amounts of cod in the New World inspired many to move and fish there for potential of large business
- Portuguese cities in early Canada allowed Portuguese to gain large net profits as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia were the centers of cod trade in North America
- Normans and Bretons had large advantage over other European cod traders as they were close to two of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean, Rouen and Paris.
- The North American cod trade was dominated by France
- Since salting cod was a large part of French culture, the government imposed a salt tax on their people as a good source of revenue
- Cities were also based on salt for cod industry like Brittany in France,
- After the Spanish, Portuguese, and French fleets were in decline, England took over the North American cod trade
- To many, cod was the symbol of New World capitalism
- A "bargain market" for cod started to develop in the West Indies
- Cod became an important link in the global trade system of sugar, molasses, salt, slaves, sassafras, tobacco, and wine
- Cod became a monetary unit in West Africa used to buy slaves
- Important cod ports in West Indies, St. Domingue, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Suriname
- New England trade was so great that they could not sell all their trade to England like they were supposed to according to the different Trade Acts.
- France lost a lot of money after the French-Indian War not only due to the amount of money used for war, but because The British had taken away most of their markets and were just left with St. Pierre and Miquelon
- After British closed Boston Harbor after the Tea Party, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia lost major partner as Boston was a major cod port for them
- The individual colony of Massachusetts gained a lot more money in cod industry after demanding and winning the Grand Banks, Scotia shelf and Gulf of Saint Lawrence from British
"If codfish forsake us, what then would we hold? What carry to Bergen to barter for gold?" -Peter Daas, Trumpet of Nordland, Norway, 1735
"It's no fish ye're buying: it's men's lives. (Fishmonger to a customer haggling over the price of a haddock)" Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary 1816