Mapping the mahogany trade in the 18th and 19th centuries

In this lecture, Dr Adam Bowett charts the growth of the mahogany trade from its small beginnings in the early 18th century to its global peak in the late 19th. The trade was shaped both by British colonial policy and by Britain’s relations with the other European colonial powers, with successive wars against France and Spain being the most potent drivers of change. It was initially centred on the British Caribbean islands, especially Jamaica, but rapidly expanded to encompass Central America, Cuba and Hispaniola. In the process, furniture making in Britain was transformed, and in the 19th century mahogany was the world’s most commercially important high-class furniture wood. By the early 20th century the mahogany stocks of most Caribbean islands and large parts of Central America were dangerously depleted, and all three species are now protected under the CITES agreements.

Dr. Adam Bowett is an independent furniture historian and chairman…