The ‘Last Ice Age’ in maritime history: An introduction

Abstract

The point of departure of this Forum is an ongoing research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council: ‘The Last Ice Age: The Trade in Natural Ice as an Agent of Modernization and Economic Integration in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century’ (https://marmuseum.no/en/the-last-ice-age). The project is managed by the Norwegian Maritime Museum in cooperation with scholars at the University of South-Eastern Norway, the University of Hull (UK) and Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA, USA). This article outlines and contextualizes the development of Norway's natural-ice trade, thereby introducing the project and setting the scene for the five other articles that comprise this Forum.