Download or read book Ships and Shipping in the North Sea and Atlantic, 1400–1800 written by Richard W. Unger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1997, this collection of articles, two of which hitherto only appeared in Dutch, examines the technical changes in shipbuilding, as well as new practices in shipping and fishing, from the late Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. It seeks to show how these changes transformed the European economy and affected the relationship between the economy and governments, and to portray the process, although most dramatic in the Dutch Republic, as part of a general European phenomenon. The studies also investigate the causes of these developments, and suggest how improvements in shipping may have affected patterns of trade and behaviour of public authorities.