Bønder i Antarktis : hvalfangst og landbruk 1925 - 1940

Abstract

The 100 years between 1868 and 1968 was the most exploitative but also the last period of whale hunting on a global scale. For almost seventy years, Norwegian dominance in this business resulted not only in large incomes for the Norwegian state, but also in well-paid job opportunities for thousands of people from the coastal regions of Norway, especially from Vestfold county. Many of these whalers supplemented their earnings from the hunting expeditions with income from other working activities – a phenomena well known from Norway’s economic history. Contemporary sources frequently referred to the great share of farmers among the participating whalers, but without further investigating the circumstances for this kind of part-time farming. This dissertation analyses the combination of whaling and farming during the inter-war period between 1925 and 1940. Geographically, the analysis focuses on three administrative counties in Vestfold: Sandar, Stokke og Våle.