American Geographical Society

The Northern Seas: Shipping and Commerce in Northern Europe A.D. 300-1100 by ArchibaldR. LewisReview by: J. H. AndrewsGeographical Review, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct., 1959), pp. 593-594Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/212219 .

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GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS 593

THE NORTHERN SEAS: Shipping and Commerce in Northern Europe A.D. 300-1100. By ARCHIBALD R. LEWIS. xi and 498 pp.; maps, index. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1958. $9.oo. 912 x 6 inches.

Professor Lewis has filled an obvious and wide gap in historical literature. The scope of his new book is even broader than its title might suggest; for his "northern seas" are the Baltic, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Irish Sea, and the Bay of Biscay, and their coastlands are made to include all Europe north of the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Danube, the Black Sea, and the Caspian. And despite his subtitle, he reviews not only the commerce and shipping of this dauntingly large area but much of its general history as well. His book will interest geographers chiefly because it supplies the economic background for H. C. Darby's well-known concept of the medieval sea state: "Seas," Professor Lewis is con- vinced, "are not barriers now and were not in the Middle Ages. Rather they were high- ways which connected, influenced and tended to unify the lands whose shores they touched."

This thesis emerges from a treatment that is chronological rather than analytical. The earlier chapters show how the predominantly north-south trade relations of the Roman era gave place to a number of separate economic regions, each largely self-sufficient at first, but from Merovingian time more closely linked together by traffic flowing along the coasts and rivers. After tracing the rise of Islam and its effects, the author turns to the quickening economic growth associated with the Carolingian revival, notably in the Rhine-Seine region, and the beginnings of overland commercial penetration eastward into the Slav lands. Next, the Viking onslaught, despite its horrors, is shown to have created in the long run more trade than it destroyed; and finally, after chronicling the invasions of the Magyars, the Seljuk Turks, and other steppeland peoples, the narrative ends in the eleventh century on a note cf hope and recovery.

Against the background of these broad historical movements, Professor Lewis sets the details of dynastic changes, realignments of foreign policy, currency problems, out- breaks of piracy, and other less durable influences. No region of northern Europe enjoyed a steady, uninterrupted economic growth, though it is convincingly argued that in a period of increasing population and agricultural colonization each successive wave of progress carried further than the last.

Although the geographical reader may find the narrative of these vicissitudes con- fusing and uninstructive, he will note the recurrence of certain significant themes. One such motif is the lasting importance of northern Europe's natural routeways-the coast- wise sea routes, the rivers, portages, passes, and gaps. Another is the commodity structure of the traffic that followed these routes: French wine and salt, British cloth and metals, the furs, fish, and iron of Scandinavia, the metalware, arms, glass, pottery, and cloth of the Rhineland, and the furs, honey, and slaves of Slavonic Europe.

Professor Lewis draws with equal authority from an impressive range of literary, documentary, archeological, and numismatic evidence. But the surviving materials are so scanty and ill distributed that many of the more obvious geographical questions must remain unanswered. The nonspecialist reader, in particular, will find it hard to see the wood for the trees, and he may feel that the author could have done more to help: the long chapters are without subheadings, and more passages of summary and conclusions would have been welcome; the index is imperfect; and locations are sometimes stated vaguely or even incorrectly. It is a pity, too, that the text carries no direct reference to

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594 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

the five trade-route maps, which, besides being poorly designed, are hard to interpret without further explanation. But these are marginal faults in a book that, like the author's volume on the Mediterranean, will be read with profit by historical geographers.- J. H. ANDREWS

[GEOGRAPHIE DU CANTON DE GENtVE.] 476 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogrs.

Le Globe: Mcmoires Soc. de Geogr. de Geneve, Vol. 97 (Publication du Centenaire), 1958.

The Geographical Society of Geneva celebrated its centennial in 1958 by putting out a

special volume on the geography of the Canton of Geneva. This publication is the result

of cooperation by many local experts, who are responsible for individual chapters covering

cartography, physiography, geology, climate, flora, fauna, anthropology, population,

emigration, economy, agriculture, water supply, communications, tourism, and Geneva

as an international center. Most of the contributors are not primarily geographers, and,

although a huge amount of information has been gathered, it would fail to give a complete

picture except for the concluding chapter, "The Problems of Geneva," by Charles-A.

Burky, professor of human geography at the University of Geneva. This does not mean

that the other chapters do not contain valuable information; in fact, they are necessary and at times interesting. But Burky's chapter tells the real story. It may be worth while

to consider the reasons why this canton (and city) is almost unique from many points of

view.

When the Republic of Geneva joined the Swiss Confederation in 1814, it consisted

of five separate areas, one of which was the city proper. Through treaties with France and

Sardinia (Savoy), ceding the territories in between, these areas were united into the

present cantonal territory of some 1lo square miles. Only then was Geneva connected

by land to the rest of the Swiss Confederation, but even now 95 per cent of the cantonal

boundaries are with French territory. The canton was also given a surrounding free-trade

zone (zonesfranches) and a zone io kilometers wide beyond this which is also outside the

French customs area but which is not permanent and can be denounced by France. There

are, of course, many complications to this double French cordon-fiscal on the actual

boundary and douanier on the other side of the combined free-trade zones-as Charles

Aubert points out in his chapter on the economy of Geneva.

Geneva is known as the city where Calvin taught, but it lost its primarily Protestant

character when the new territory, which is Catholic, was added and also through the influx

of immigrants. At present Protestants and Catholics are about equal in strength. The

population, which grew from some 64,000 in i85o to some 200,000 in 1957, is about

two-thirds composed of people from other parts of Switzerland or from abroad. The

increase of population has caused an acute housing problem. Burky states that in June, 1957, the percentage of available lodgings was o.oo8! Tourists and participants in the

frequent congresses tax the hotels; during August all available rooms are occupied and

there is an overflow outside Geneva. Plans exist for an optimum population of 300,000, of whom 50,000 will live in a satellite city to be built.

The economy of Geneva is that of an industrial city. There are ten times as many

people employed in industries as in agriculture. The city is famous for its watch industry, but the industrial development is nonetheless of great variety. Export is chiefly to foreign

countries, with Germany ranking fifth. Geneva is somewhat aside from the main European

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