History of South-Savo and Lake Saimaa
ON THE PIER
Living on the shores of Lake Saimaa

 

TAR BURNING

The great voyages of discovery and colonialism gave rise to manufacturing wooden ships on a large scale in the 16th century. Empires battling for the rule of the seas built vast war and merchant fleets. Tar was required for protecting wooden elements and cordage, a demand that central Europe could not meet. In the early 17th century, the centre of European tar production shifted from Prussia to Sweden, which was the head state of the Nordic countries. Tar production became particularly concentrated in Sweden’s most forested part, Finland. Tar became Finland’s first world trade product, making the country the most significant tar producer in the world in the period of wooden and sailing ships. Saimaa was one of the principal production areas.

The tar and pitch of Saimaa’s shores brought money, tobacco, sugar and coffee to Finland, items previously almost unknown. Tar and pitch formed a steppingstone between the medieval fur period and the subsequent period of timber. The wars gave a deathblow to tar burning on Saimaa: Vyborg, the main port of exportation, was lost to Russia in 1721, and the export ports of Hamina and Lappeenranta were handed over in 1743. Ostrobothnia became the centre of tar burning.

Considerable amounts of tar were also required domestically. Finnish peasants heeded to a rule in woodwork: "What e’er you do, do with tar". It was also used as a universal remedy for people and animals alike. Tar intended for export was burnt in large tar-burning pits, whereas that for home use could be prepared in a pot or in a chute pit that had been dug in the ground. In addition to tar, peasants made extra earnings from its side products, which included pitch, carbon black and charcoal.

 

29.7.2005