Tar Production in Colonial North America

Abstract

It was only natural for the large countries and colonial powers of the 18th century to employ their heavily wooded areas and possessions as sources of forest products. This is how the French wanted to use Canada, the British, America and the Swedish, their eastern half, Finland. It was not solely the natural environment that determined the choice of these areas, however, but also other aspects of the environment: political, military, economic and colonial. To illustrate this, we will examine the example of tar-making.