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Economic growth is a creature of freedom and stability, and both are products of men with arms in their hands and decency in their hearts. That's why it is rare and exceptional in human history.

HiHi

While there may be a certain amount of truth in that statement in the short term Jason, can I suggest that over the longer term something as simple as Water, be it salt or fresh, has played a much larger role in human affairs.

Maybe ‘The Hanseatic League’ could serve as an eg; while in its heyday a formidable quasi-military force that scared the crap out of many established nations, it’s economic growth & stability rested on Water, in that while it controlled the Baltic & North Sea trade routes with a ‘Fist of Iron’ so to speak, as I understand it, the economic root of its wealth was the Baltic Herring (needed for Friday nosh in christian europe), the extinction of said beasty due to desalination of the Baltic (the Baltic Herring being a salt water fish) was “allegedly” what started the long drawn out economic decline of the league (the Hanseatic league being in existence for some 5 centuries).

Just a Thought. :soap:

All the Best
Peter

Strange. I thought the Hanseatic League declined as the power of the states increased in the areas where the league operated. The League was primarily a free trade union between a number of independent baltic city-states and dealt in a number of goods, fish being only one of them. As the power of the states and kings surrounding the cities of the League grew, so did the power of the league diminish.

As for friday nosh: most of northern europe went protestantic around the time the hanseatic league began to go into a deathspin anyway.

As a punishment for thinking that a useful segue, you are condemned to cut down the largest tree in the forest... with... a herring!

"Protestantic"? I was actually going post something about Calvinism, but I guess I won't now . . .:)

HiHi

Well there you go Rune you now have another factor to add to a fairly long list of why the Hanseatic League declined , and yes I was aware of the Protestant element, but I wasn’t trying to write a dissertation on the Rise & Fall of ‘the Hanseatic league’; my aim was merely to suggest that History isn’t just about Blokes in size 15 Hobnailed boots with big Wobbly sticks and their leaders going round doing ”Stuff”.

In using Water as an element (no pun intended) I could well have chosen the Cinque Ports as an eg of how Economic growth & Stability was altered by Water rather than said Blokes in size 15’s, or maybe the Economic growth of the Fenlands of East Anglia through land reclamation etc. etc. etc. As Eugene has suggested the study of History can encompass more than just big names & big armies.

Jason who do you think I am, William Gladstone!!!? :rolleyes:

All the Best
Peter