Early modern reforestation: The case of the Ottoman Western Balkans
Journal: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Year: 2017

The scholarships has shown that humans were depleting early-modern forests globally. This study examines the case of the Ottoman Western Balkans, where forests were able to regrow in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries despite the Porte’s intention, as evidenced by the political centre's leading economic ideas, policies and actions, to foster demographic and agricultural growth at the expense of forests. While limited timber extraction supported the local demands of urbanization, industry,