International timber trade, merchants, and the business organisation of the sector: The role of Danzig and the southern ports of the Baltic Sea (1823–1913)

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the quantitative and qualitative changes that occurred in the timber trade and in its business organisation, between the early 1820s and the outbreak of the First World War, on the southern bank of the Baltic, paying special attention to Danzig. In particular, we will analyse the role of the merchants and the other social and economic actors involved, at different levels and with different functions, in the timber business: the forests’ owners, the local intermediaries, the transportation of the timber from the forests to the markets, and the workers.