Ep. 23. Codfish Heroes: Vikings, Basques and the Fishermen who Changed the World

We often look at history through the actions of great individuals, technological developments and natural events that initiate social, political and economic change. Sometimes animals play a role in those changes - such as the domestication of sheep, cattle and horses thousands of years ago as sources of food and burden or the ability to travel quickly and provide their riders with a battle platform. But despite those benefits, Europeans nevertheless continued to some degree to be constrained in their ability to travel long distances across oceans by the limits of nutritional deficiency- that is to say, disease borne of malnutrition. Food was difficult to keep from spoiling for more than a few weeks - particularly in humid environments and the effects of scurvy on sailors of during the golden age of sail is well known. But all this began to change when the Vikings began to dry and store a fish called the Cod, whose particular makeup was unlike that of other fish. When they introduced it other Europeans, the Basques in particular began salting the cod, which made the fish even more resistance to spoiling, and allowed them to travel great distances by ship. Tied into this new ability to travel was the discovery by fishermen of America - long before the celebrated explorers that we all learned about in school. These fishermen were feeding the impoverished and famine affected population of Europe with American Cod centuries before their monarchs began their official scramble for control of the New World, and the story of how they came to do it is one not widely known. Moreover, its also not widely known, that the Cod played a substantial role not only in the survival, economy and independence of the colonies of North America, but they facilitated significant social, political and economic progress that has led directly to the formation of the liberal democracies we live in today. But the relentless exploitation of Cod went further - greed and exploitation led to the redrawing of international boundaries, the unprecedented claim of continental shelves (previously part of international High Seas free commerce) and even caused a number of skirmishes between European countries late into the 20th century - known as the Cod Wars. That's a lot of significance for a fish to have. 
#cod #documentary #vikings #basque #history #columbus #exploration #fishing #conservation #cabot #america #newfoundland #canada #bristol 

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