America's Whaling
Whaling for America began thousands of years ago for the native Americans. However, it wasn't until the 1840s where the "Golden Age" of whaling had begun in America with fleets of over 700 whaling vessels at a time exploring the oceans for periods of up to 4 years at a time. One of the most prominent years which showed this was in 1846 where of the 900 whaling ships in the seas at the time worldwide, 735 of those whaling ships where America's. At this time many whales were being hunted throughout the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and Arctic Oceans, including species such as:
This common practice at the time soon became the reason behind America's rapidly growing economy as their whaling industry had boomed at the time due to the success in the industry from the profits made from the whaling industry's productivity. However, it did not end here as by the mid 19th century this industry, they had become the fifth largest industry in the United States of America with it accounting for up to one-fifth of the nation's produces. Soon, whaling was named as the "source of national wealth" for America with it creating 70,000 jobs and having approximately 70 million dollars of capital investment at the time. This was shown particularly in 1853 when America had killed over 8000 whales, with them obtaining a total of 260,00 barrels of whale oil as well as 5.7 million pounds of baleen whale which had given them a record amount of sales with it amounting up to 11 million dollars in that year. However, this did not last very long as by the end of two decades the Golden Age of whaling for America had ended with the discovery of petroleum and the outbreak of Civil War in 1861.
Although the Golden Age of whaling had already ended, the industry of whaling still wasn't lost as many people still used the practice as a form of business. This continued on for many decades as the Americans continued whaling for the benefits the whales provided. Though the scale of whaling was nowhere near as significant as their Golden Age in the 19th century, many whales were still being killed as their population had diminished to a dangerously low number. Because of this, in 1986 a moratorium in commercial whaling was placed with many countries such as America stopping commercial whaling once and for all as the whale population slowly recovered.
- Sperm whales
- Right whales
- Bow-head whales
- Gray whales
- Humpback whales
This common practice at the time soon became the reason behind America's rapidly growing economy as their whaling industry had boomed at the time due to the success in the industry from the profits made from the whaling industry's productivity. However, it did not end here as by the mid 19th century this industry, they had become the fifth largest industry in the United States of America with it accounting for up to one-fifth of the nation's produces. Soon, whaling was named as the "source of national wealth" for America with it creating 70,000 jobs and having approximately 70 million dollars of capital investment at the time. This was shown particularly in 1853 when America had killed over 8000 whales, with them obtaining a total of 260,00 barrels of whale oil as well as 5.7 million pounds of baleen whale which had given them a record amount of sales with it amounting up to 11 million dollars in that year. However, this did not last very long as by the end of two decades the Golden Age of whaling for America had ended with the discovery of petroleum and the outbreak of Civil War in 1861.
Although the Golden Age of whaling had already ended, the industry of whaling still wasn't lost as many people still used the practice as a form of business. This continued on for many decades as the Americans continued whaling for the benefits the whales provided. Though the scale of whaling was nowhere near as significant as their Golden Age in the 19th century, many whales were still being killed as their population had diminished to a dangerously low number. Because of this, in 1986 a moratorium in commercial whaling was placed with many countries such as America stopping commercial whaling once and for all as the whale population slowly recovered.
The figure below shows us where USA is located within the North and South American continents as well as where the Oceans are located. The shaded patches represent the 19th century hunting grounds at the time in which America had hunted in during their "Golden Age" of whaling.
Figure 1, Source: http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/112penniman/112locate2.htm , Edited Personally