Conference

The Family & Colonialism Research Network is thrilled to announce its first conference, ‘Imperial Relations: Families in the British Empire,’ to be held at the Institute of Historical Research, London, 5-6 September 2011.

This conference aims to bring together local and international scholars working on any aspect of British imperial family history between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Keynote speakers are Dr. Adele Perry (University of Manitoba), Dr. Elizabeth Buettner (University of York), Dr. Elizabeth Elbourne (McGill University), and Dr. Rhonda Semple (St. Francis Xavier University).Mining the Boreal North

Mining

Swedes had long suspected that the north contained some of the richest iron ore deposits in the world, but exploitation could not begin until the transportation problem was solved. In 1903, Sweden completed a railroad running from the Baltic port of Luleå, through the iron ore region of Kiruna, then down to the ice-free port of Narvik on the Norwegian coast. The mining boom at Kiruna was on.

Initially open-pit mines, the Kiruna mines transformed the landscape. Historic photos show that mountaintops were removed to reach the rich ore deposits, a precursor to today’s controversial mountain top removal in Appalachia. The work was dangerous, and pollution from the pit and tailings piles was notorious. Sulfates contributed to acidification both of local watersheds and larger regional watersheds.