Keeping Spain Afloat: State Forestry and Imperial Defense in the Sixteenth Century

Abstract

Timber resources were essential for maintaining the fleets that controlled Spain's transatlantic empire in the sixteenth century. This article argues that although the forest clearances for building the Armada during the reign of Felipe II (r. 1556–98) have been characterized as politically and ecologically destructive, this demand for timber as a strategic resource for war marked the beginning of systematic management of Spanish forests. It also connects forest conservation and the replanting of species valued by the navy, such as oaks and pines, with the militarization and expansion of bureaucratic state power. Finally, this article sheds light on social history by describing the ways in which agents of the crown faced practical limitations to their authority, primarily in the well-forested northern regions. To harvest naval timber without disrupting the social order, Madrid had to balance local interests and imperial demands. Even as international conflicts drained the finances of Spain and rapidly consumed its material and human resources, the crown continued to reaffirm the long-standing legal rights of local communities to access forest resources. Still, by the end of the century, Spain had begun using advanced techniques to gather and communicate information about forests in more regions, expanding its forestry bureaucracy into the largest of its kind in Europe.