Abstract

Cabot’s discovery in 1497 of abundant cod populations around Newfoundland had fundamental geopolitical implications. Through the sixteenth century, marine products were among the first foodstuffs to be exposed to globalising processes while climate change (the Little Ice Age) impacted ocean productivity. The fish revolution changed the human landscapes around the North Atlantic. I explore three questions: (1) what were the natural and economic causes of the fish revolution; (2) how did marginal societies adapt to changes in international trade and consumption patterns around the North Atlantic; and (3) how did consumers, investors, and politics in the major European countries perceive and respond to the fish revolution? The answers may help us understand the role of environment and climate change in the past, how markets impacted marginal communities, and how humans perceived long-term change.