HIST4851 · History

Whales and Whaling in U.S. History

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Fulfills U.S. History requirement for History Majors. Whales, as animals that could be transformed into energy and other resources, played a significant role in the history of the United States, alongside the hunts and then the industry that pursued them from near shores to the worlds furthest northern and southern seas. This environmental history course will follow the course of whaling in the US from before European arrival to the present. We will discuss the impact of the changing whaling industry on the worlds whales, as well as on the peoples and far-flung geographiesinland as well as coastalit touched. Along the way well consider such topics as the question of whale culture, relationships between humans and whales, how whales became energy, how the American pursuit of whaling changed ports around the world, continuing traditions of indigenous whaling, anti-whaling movements and environmentalism, and whalings various memorializations.