Title: Resources and Infrastructures in the Maritime Eonomy, 1500-2000

Contact Information: Dr. Gordon Boyce, Victoria University, P.O. Box 600, School of Economic & Finance, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, nil, 6001 New Zealand. Email: Gordon.Boyce@vuw.ac.nz. Ph: (64) 4 4721000 (ext 5131), home (64) 4 5264386. Fax: (64) 4 495 5014

Other Organizers: Dr. Richard Gorski (Dept of History, University of Hull, United Kingdom)

Description: The proposed session will examine the emergence and development of economies that have relied on the exploitation of the sea and its resources. In considering these maritime economies, particular emphasis will be placed on the sea as an economic highway and on the development of sea-dependent activities such as overseas trade, shipping, and the fisheries. Though essentially international in scope, and based on the use of a common resource, the sea, such activities have long since been identified by states as forming a vital dimension of their economic strategy. This session therefore proposes to dissect the concept of the 'maritime economy' in order to reassess some of the rather neglected constituent parts and to assess their relative importance and their interrelationships. Using the sea and its resources as a starting point, contributors will be encouraged to explore the development of sea-dependent industries and, more especially, the emergence of infrastructures to support these industries.

Participants:Gordon Boyce (New Zealand); John Chircop (Malta); Richard Gorski (UK); Carol M. Hill (UK); Poul Holm (Denmark); Hrefna Karlsdottir (Sweden); Michael Miller (USA); Leos Muller (Sweden); Jari Ojala (Finland); James Reveley (Australia); M. Elisabetta Tonizzi (Italy)