THE HISTORY OF CANNABIS IN CANADA
Page 4: 1600s, Europe growing cannabis in New World.
In the 1600s, huge amounts of cannabis textiles were needed by all of Europe's naval powers to outfit their warships and merchant fleets. Britain bought large quantities of cannabis for sails and ropes from Russia, while the Dutch supplemented their home-grown supply with imported cannabis from their colonies.
Colonies in the New World were a promising source of new cannabis farms and mills. Tracts of land were issued to settlers who promised to grow large amounts of cannabis for fibre.
By the mid 1600s, Spain was growing cannabis in Chile, Britain had made cannabis farming mandatory in New England, and the French government pressured colonists to grow as much cannabis as possible.
During the late 1700s and early 1800s, Britain also tried growing cannabis in Australia, and sent convicts there in the hopes that they could be a source of cheap farm labour.
FOOTNOTES
• Britain bought large quantities
Article: Hemp, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eighth Edition, Volume XI, 1856
http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/h/hemp22a.html
• sails and ropes from Russia
Book: Textbook of Seamanship, Chapter III, U.S. Naval Academy, 1891
http://www.hnsa.org/resources/manuals-documents/age-of-sail/textbook-of-seamanship/rope/
• the Dutch supplemented
Book: The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century, Maarten Roy Prak, Cambridge University Press, 2005
https://www.amazon.com/Dutch-Republic-Seventeenth-Century-Golden/dp/0521604605
• the Dutch supplemented
Article: 1600 -1700: The Golden Age of Dutch Hemp, Hempshopper.com
http://hempshopper.com/en/hemp-history-ce/108-1600-1700
• Spain growing cannabis in Chile
Article: History of hemp in Chile, by Erich Forster, Druglibrary.org
http://druglibrary.org/olsen/hemp/iha/iha03213.html
• mandatory, French government
Book: Cannabis: A History, by Martin Booth, p.57, Transworld Digital, 2011
http://books.google.ca/books?id=Mjn6sCiHoFIC&pg=PA57
• New England growing cannabis for Britain
Article: Hemp in New England, by John Dvorak, Hemp Magazine, 1997
http://unifiedcommunity.info/hemp/hemp-articles/johns-articles/history-of-hemp-in-new-england/
http://hempology.org/JD'S%20ARTICLES/NEWENG.html
• cannabis in Australia
Book: Sir Joseph Banks and the Question of Hemp, by John Jiggens, John Jiggens, 2012.
https://www.amazon.com/Sir-Joseph-Banks-Question-Hemp/dp/095786843X
• cannabis in Australia
Audio: Was Australia intended as a hemp colony?, Ockham's Razor, Sept 9 2012
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/was-australia-intended-as-a-hemp-colony3f/4240480#transcript
• sent convicts
Article: Hemp in British and Australian Colonial History, by Phillip Charlier, Tableland Netguide, 1998
https://australianhempparty.com/page/source/colonial-history