Dear List,
Many thanks for all these interesting leads. I am now back in Europe
and will start following them up. I'll try to get a report together
asap but with a team of Lao and French archaeologists we have recorded
a series of fairly large (~60x50x100cm) iron smelting furnaces in NW
Laos; in an area where the local ethnic group (Lamet) has no
ethnographic/historical record of iron production, and were in fact
known in the early 20th century for being barely able to repair simple
tools. We've got TL dates on the way that might indicate at whether
we're looking at pre-European influence production.
Regards,
Oli
On 17 July 2010 18:56, Peter King <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I cannot talk of Indochina, of French iron or of the 1930s, but none of the
> remarks are surprising to me. The English East India Company exported
> Swedish iron to India in the 18th century. This was apparently "Gothenburg"
> iron (from central Sweden), rather than the (better) Stockholm iron or the
> even better Oregrounds (Orgrund) iron, whose best marks (brands) were highly
> prized for conversion to steel.
>
> The English East India Company sent it to all four of their main factories,
> Madras, Bengal, Bombay and Bencoolen (the latter in Java, I think), at least
> by the 1730s - my collection of data is less systematic earlier. The
> quantity varied but grew with time, often under 100 tons per year in the
> 17th century, but commonly 400-500 tons in the 1720s and 1730s, less in the
> 1770s and 1780s, but over 1000 tons in some years in the late 1740s and late
> 1790s. The British export trade to India grew in the late 18th century,
> becoming less dependent on the export of bullion. A dense commodity such as
> iron would be useful for providing a ballast for cargoes of lighter goods
>
> Canton was generally not among the destinations, but the Swedish East India
> Company is likely to have cornered that trade. However, since it was based
> in Gothenburg, the Swedish Company is likely to have exported iron that came
> down the river Göta, rather than Stockholm iron but one never knows.
>
> Before the advent of mass-produced mild steel following Bessemer's
> innovation, the metal sent would have been wrought iron, not steel.
> However, I would not have expected it to be packed in barrels. The bars
> were often 12-15 feet long and it would be difficult to make large enough
> barrels.
>
> The preference for Swedish rather than English iron would be because most
> English iron was made from ironstone from the coal measures, which tended to
> have a phosphorus content that rendered it coldshort (brittle when cold).
> Most Swedish iron was 'tough' and not liable to this defect. From the
> 1730s, the English Navy Board bought iron for the Royal Naval dockyards.
> This was almost all oregrounds iron. In the 1800s, after some 2nd
> oregrounds had broken, trials were carried out between it and British
> puddled iron, leading to significant quantities of that being bought and the
> use of Swedish iron apparently ceasing in about 1808. Puddled iron would be
> rolled, rather than forged, which probably gave it its better qualities.
>
> Peter King
> 49, Stourbridge Road,
> Hagley,
> Stourbridge
> West Midlands
> DY9 0QS
> 01562-720368
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Arch-Metals Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
> Donald B. Wagner
> Sent: 17 July 2010 09:19
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Swedish iron in Southeast Asia
>
>
> Hello -
>
> There is some information on import of Swedish iron to China here:
>
> C. F. Liljevalch: Chinas handel, industri og
> statsförfattning, jemte underrättelser om
> chinesernes folkbildning, seder och bruk (. . .),
> Stockholm 1848, pp. 117-126.
>
> He says that import of Swedish iron to Canton had
> earlier been important, but now is only sporadic.
> [I am sure that is because of English
> competition.] He says older Chinese smiths knew
> about Swedish iron and considered it superior to
> all others. He also says the English smiths in
> the English shipyards in Canton insisted on
> Swedish iron, would use neither Chinese nor
> English iron.
>
> There is a fair amount of literature in Swedish
> on Swedish trade with Asia. If you have some way
> of using it I can dig out the references for you.
>
> There are a few relevant publications in English here:
> http://www.jernkontoret.se/ladda_hem_och_bestall/publikationer/bergshistoria
> /skriftser/index.php
> and here:
> http://www.jernkontoret.se/ladda_hem_och_bestall/publikationer/bergshistoria
> /rapporter/index.php
> Note especially this, which I have not seen:
>
> Karl-Gustaf Hildebrand: Swedish Iron in the
> Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Export
> Industry before the Industrialization. 1992. 183
> pp.
>
> Another I haven't seen: T. J. Arne: La Suéde et l'Orient, 1914.
>
> You may find something useful in the French
> translation of Swedenborg's De Ferro (1734). The
> title is Traité du fer, 1762.
> The original Latin is here:
> http://books.google.com/books?id=Vwz2ezucZmQC&dq=intitle%3Aregnum%20intitle%
> 3Asubterraneum%20inauthor%3A%22emanuel%20swedenborg%22&pg=PP9#v=onepage&q&f=
> false
>
> For the economic background of the Swedish iron
> industry, but not much about Asian trade, see
> numerous books and articles in English and French
> by Eli Heckscher, for example through this Google
> search;
> http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&tbo=p&q=intitle:Sweden+inauthor:Hecks
> cher&num=10
> and this one:
> http://scholar.google.dk/scholar?as_q=&num=10&btnG=Search+Scholar&as_epq=&as
> _oq=&as_eq=&as_occt=title&as_sauthors=heckscher+e&as_publication=&as_ylo=190
> 0&as_yhi=1960&as_sdt=1.&as_sdts=5&hl=en
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Regards
> Don Wagner
>
>>Dear List,
>>
>>In the Ventiane (Laos) library of the École française d'Extrême-Orient
>>have found a reference to Swedish iron (the description sounds like
>>rods of mild steel packed in barrels) being imported to Indochina
>>during the late 1930s, and that this trade had existed since the 17th
>>century. Apparently the local smiths preferred Swedish to French
>>steel, which was too hard. What this means for local iron production
>>is my interest. Could someone please give me a pointer as to where I
>>could begin to verify this trade, presumably in the Swedish
>>literature.
>>
>>Many thanks in advance for your kind help,
>>Oli
>>
>>--
>>Thomas Oliver Pryce PhD AIfA
>>
>>Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the Research Laboratory for
>>Archaeology and the History of Art
>>(Junior Research Fellow at St Hugh's College)
>>Dyson Perrins Building
>>South Parks Road
>>University of Oxford
>>Oxford OX1 3QY
>>UK
>>
>>Telephone: +44 1865 285222
>>Websites: http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/rlaha.html
>>and http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/
>>Personal website: https://sites.google.com/site/thomasoliverpryce/
>>
>>and
>>
>>Associate Research Member
>>Laboratoire UMR 7055 "Préhistoire et Technologie"
>>Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie
>>21 Allée de l'Université F-92023
>>Nanterre
>>FRANCE
>>
>>Tel: +33 1 46 69 25 78
>>Website: http://www.mae.u-paris10.fr/siteums/prehistoire0.php
>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> dr.phil. Donald B. Wagner
> Jernbanegade 9B
> DK-3600 Frederikssund
> Denmark
> Tel. +45-3331 2581
> [log in to unmask]
> http://staff.hum.ku.dk/dbwagner
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
--
Thomas Oliver Pryce PhD AIfA
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the Research Laboratory for
Archaeology and the History of Art
(Junior Research Fellow at St Hugh's College)
Dyson Perrins Building
South Parks Road
University of Oxford
Oxford OX1 3QY
UK
Telephone: +44 1865 285222
Websites: http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/rlaha.html and http://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/
Personal website: https://sites.google.com/site/thomasoliverpryce/
and
Associate Research Member
Laboratoire UMR 7055 "Préhistoire et Technologie"
Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie
21 Allée de l'Université F-92023
Nanterre
FRANCE
Tel: +33 1 46 69 25 78
Website: http://www.mae.u-paris10.fr/siteums/prehistoire0.php
|
