Conservation or Destruction? Revisiting the Environmental Footprint Left by the Sugar Industry in Madeira and the Shipbuilding Industry in Lisbon on Woodlands (Fifteenth–Seventeenth Centuries)

Abstract

Scholars have largely attributed deforestation in early modern Madeira and Portugal to the expansion of sugarcane cultivation and shipbuilding. This article re-examines royal forestry legislation enacted in support of these industries, as well as the impact they had on woodland resources. Four main conclusions emerge: (1) Royal forestry legislation was largely shaped from bottom-up petitions, particularly in Madeira, where the sugar lobby of Funchal played a prominent role. (2) Assertations of forest destruction or timber shortages functioned as a narrative strategy employed by local inhabitants to secure the Crown’s support, which in turn appropriated these claims to advance its own interests. (3) Such claims originated earlier in Madeira, while on the mainland they were initially advanced by private individuals and religious corporations. (4) Neither the shipbuilding nor the sugarcane industries were responsible for sustained or large-scale deforestation.