Cannabis Yarn in the Spanish and English Empires. Different Policies, but the Same Results?

Abstract

Since the 16th century, the maritime empires of Spain and England faced a major logistical problem to supply their merchant and military fleets with materials made of hemp. This difficulty increased as both empires were incorporating the new American territories into their possessions, because of the impact that this expansion had on the increase in the number of vessels needed to keep the parts of the empire connected. Since most of Europe’s hemp came from the Russian Empire, what to do when trade with the Baltic was interrupted by the war, and, in addition, in the American biota, hemp did not exist? This article uses a comparative methodology to focus on and analyse the measures implemented to achieve the objective of sufficiency of a strategic commodity such as hemp.