Cod and The Red Sox

“Cod and The Red Sox -- Massachusetts’s Beloved Losers (Kurlansky, 24)”

In order for any system to function correctly there must be cooperation. As we have learned through the study of world history there are many ways to reach cooperation and one way is equal trade between two states. Cod, by Mark Kurlansky, demonstrates the importance of this very well. Cod became the staple for New England, the most important fish to produce there. Riches were won and lost over this fish. Cod brought the world together but also made it suffer in the end.

Trade not only creates friendly relations but also creates dependancy. If one country relies on another for one good, and vice versa a relationship is established and neither is going to jeopardize that. Friendly trade encourages good relations between countries which in turn can bring prosperity, development, regional power, alliances for defense, and beneficial treaty agreements. The codfish, historically, has done all of these things for the countries lucky enough to fish and trade with cod. The world system is really just many individual states coming together and cooperating through trade to develop an increasingly

“By the eighteenth century, cod had lifted New England from a distant colony of starving settlers to an international commercial power... The members of the ‘codfish aristocracy,’ those who traced their roots back to the seventeenth century cod fisheries, had openly worshipped the fish as a symbol of their wealth (78-9).”

Codfish was an important article of trade in Medieval Europe. Very valuable to the Mediterranean, the Basques and the Vikings both traded cod. The Basques’, Vikings’ and other nations’ searches for better fishing areas, as well as a route to China, were what caused the Europeans to stumble on the New World. The sailors would not have been able to sail as long as they did without the ability to catch cod or eat the salted cod on deck.

Cod gave New England its strong footing to become something important. Cod gave New England the ability to have a strong fight against the British, and once free, gave them the ability to survive on their own. New England owes much of its success to cod. Cod fishing was a guarantee for success for more than two hundred years.

The New England region, especially, had reason to be thankful for cod. The codfish helped build and support a strong economy in the New World. The puritan settlers would have starved had they not finally acknowledged the abundance of seafood there to feed them. The New World seemed like just savage land to many Europeans at first, but the ample opportunities available in cod fishing allowed development. Fortunes were made from nothing and the colony put itself on the map. New England built itself an aristocracy based completely on the trade of its fish:

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