Nature’s Factory: A case study of Norwegian natural ice exports in the era of industrialization, 1840-1920

Abstract

From roughly the middle of the 19th century until the First World War, Norway was a major exporter of natural ice to several European destinations, in particular to Great Britain. Regular-sized blocks of ice were cut from ponds and lakes, stored in icehouses, and shipped across the rough North Sea, on journeys that usually kept most of the product intact. Although the exports of natural ice for decades affected the lives of thousands on the southeastern coasts of the country, it has received little attention in Norwegian historiography.

This thesis has been researched and written to produce new knowledge on why and how the natural ice trade came to be a regular economic activity in southeastern Norwegian coastal communities, in the time between 1840 and 1920. The approach is to regard this development as a case of industrialization. This means acknowledging industrialization as a broad social transformation, containing many more technological developments than just the “key technologies” usually shortlisted for attention. The method has been to subject the actions of four ice entrepreneurs and their ice companies to closer examination.