When you randomly find a first edition of Mirabeau’s L’ami des hommes in an open bookshelf with leftover books in the corridor of your department…

The French government was however determined to overcome their country’s weak wool production. Collaborating with breeders, smugglers, diplomats and naturalists, state officials sought ways to import breeds – often through illicit means – that could improve their national sheep population.

In the early modern period, Britain and Spain were famed for their fine wool production. They made sure to protect the advantage that their superior breeds gave them by totally banning the exportation of live sheep.

Sheep smugglers could face capital punishment in both countries! (See image)

This article examines how animal breeds came to be seen as national resources in the early modern period, amidst European imperial competition and changing conceptions of race, breed and climate.

It particularly focuses on how governments protected – and stole – sheep breeds in the 18th century.

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@annales.ehess.fr

Ravi de découvrir que le @mondediplomatique.bsky.social de ce mois propose aussi un bel article de @raphaelmago.bsky.social sur la géopolitique animalière ! 🐪

Very excited to attend this workshop on animal domestication and human civilization. In memory of the great Claude Blanckaert.