By Robin Alexander Plant [Edited by Henry Long & Tayyiba Nasir]
Module: HST5413 (re)Writing History
Industrialisation changed the economic and political make-up of Catan irreversibly. The Ore Miners were able to achieve this at a much quicker rate than any other community. How they did this and why others failed to do so will be the focus of this piece. This essay will explore why the former inhabitants of Shackle-Wood reached the island of Catan and provide an explanation of the community and resource specialisation that was required to build the first settlements on the island. Navigating the topographical make-up of the island - the remote and divided make-up of the island- will help understand the early development of civilisation there. It is also necessary to explain the building techniques and resources required for construction, as this played an important role in dictating the relative influence each community had. Moreover, the importance of ore for industrialisation played a pivotal role in allowing the Ore Mining community to operate a coercive monopoly over their resource for many years. Alongside their economic policy, the Ore Mining community engaged in a one-sided proxy-war to place their rivals at a disadvantage, ensuring they were able to challenge them in the race for industrialisation. In the final section, the limitations and inadequacies of other communities will be examined, as these were very influential and relevant in restricting their ability to industrialise. For example, the weak military of the Grain Farmers, the Brick Miners and their poor economic policies and trading relations, the Shepherd’s preference for a more rural style of living and, finally, a natural disadvantage for the Lumberjacks due to low demand for their resource, in the period of industrialisation.
The journey of the inhabitants of Shackle-Wood to the island of Catan is well known and has now garnered mythical and universal status. This section will provide a brief overview of how the Settlers of Catan came to be so. In the late 1690s, approximately three-hundred years ago, a series of consecutive droughts led to the worst harvests the inhabitants of Shackle-Wood had seen since they settled the area.[1] Due to the desperation of the situation, they were forced to abandon their old settlements and set out in search of a new home. The details of this search for a new home have, to an extent, been lost due to the Settlers’ reliance on oral storytelling to carry on the myths and traditions of their former society.[2] What we do know for certain is that it took a decade of wandering in wild terrain which eventually lead them to the Island of Catan. Upon reaching the island they were met with topography that was extremely difficult to navigate and settle, but an island that was rich with resources and opportunity.[3] It was apparent to the Settlers that these areas were difficult to access, and that effective habitation required high levels of technical specialisation. As a result, they were forced to separate into five distinct groups: Shepherds, Lumberjacks, Brick Miners, Wheat Farmers and Ore Miners. An important consequence of this division was that it maintained a balance of power between the groups as the settlements grew. This is because all of the resources were needed for the construction of roads and settlements.[4] In the case of roads, brick and wood were needed, and it was impossible to build a settlement without resources from the wool and grain farming communities as well.[5] Therefore, initially the Ore Miners were not the dominant group, rather they were considered ‘non-essential’ and needed only for luxury products that could be obtained by trading with travellers who passed by the island.[6] However, as technology improved, alongside construction techniques, this began to change. The Ore Miners developed new techniques by which they were able to use grain and their ore to begin industrialising. The question, therefore, is why were they able to industrialise and not others?
Firstly, ore was the primary resource needed for industrialisation. So, when improvements in building techniques and technology converged, the Ore Miners were in pole position to dominate the construction of cities. However, it was astute economic management that enabled Ore Miners to capitalise on their monopoly. The argument goes that their careful management of the supply of ore to other settlements ensured that they were able to maintain their dominance. Moreover, their ability to efficiently manage the production of ore and run effective economies of scale meant they were able to reduce costs of production.[7] In 1900, the ore mines were producing one-thousand tonnes of ore per year; by 1940 this figure had more than doubled.[8] Therefore, by controlling the supply of ore, in conjunction with steadily improving economies of scale, they were able to ensure that the supply side of ore remained squarely in their hands. In doing this, the Ore Miners were able to control the speed at which other settlements industrialised, ensuring that they themselves stayed ahead.
Ore Miners were able to exploit their advantageous position when engaging in negotiations with other settlements. For example, when trading with the Grain Farmers and Brick Miners they used their position of power to operate a ‘coercive monopoly’.[9] In doing so they placed their rivals at a great disadvantage. The main methods they used included price fixing that would cripple the economy of any settlement that wanted to buy ore in bulk. Between the years 1920-1930, the Ore Miners placed ore at a premium price of five-hundred pounds per tonne. In comparison to the previous two decades, this was a thirty percent increase in price per tonne.[10] The coercive monopoly went further, as they were able to close entry to the field, both by refusing to share their new building techniques and by not allowing any other settlements to build up enough ore reserves to enable them to trade ore themselves. This is evident in their own trading records, which states, “it is of paramount importance that we ensure our rivals are not able to encroach on our monopoly of ore”.[11] What emerges from these records is that the Ore Miners were astute in the way they manipulated their singular control of ore to operate a coercive monopoly that greatly disadvantaged their rival settlements. This is particularly relevant to grain and brick-based communities who were on the wrong end of a trade war that involved price fixing and ended any possibility of outside competitors entering the field.
Furthermore, smart and aggressive management of ore supplies was an important factor in the rapid rate of industrialisation of cities by the Ore Miners. Economic policy was supported by a strong military presence at all times, often in the form of hired mercenaries. In doing so, it was ensured that rivals were placed at a distinct disadvantage in the race for industrialisation. In their seminal piece of research, ‘Robbers of Catan: An Oral History’, Katie Shaw and Karren Teele shed a new light on how the Ore Miners came to dominate the island of Catan. As a community, ‘Robbers’ were side-lined from conventional histories of Catan, due to their choice of oral history as a means of collective memory, and their preference for nomadic living resulted in them operating outside of mainstream Catan society.[12] Furthermore, due to having a strong tradition of localised raiding, the Robbers were the prime candidate for the Ore Miners to hire in order to operate a ‘proxy-war’ against other communities, specifically the Grain Farmers. City construction required both grain and ore in large quantities which led to the Grain Farmers becoming the most likely rivals for the Ore Miners. As a result, the Council of Ore Miners decided that, not only would they use aggressive trade relations to disadvantage their rivals, they would also ‘create fear and panic among Grain Farming communities through a series of strategic attacks, carried out by hired mercenaries’.[13] As a result, the Ore Miners were able to control the speed at which others industrialised through a military threat that further reduced their opponent’s ability to build-up reserves of resource supplies, specifically the ore needed for city construction.
Whilst the methods of control used by Ore Miners were in no doubt of great importance is assisting their ability to industrialise at such a rapid pace, it must also be noted that there were failures in the management of other communities during the same period. The most notable of these is the lack of any significant military power that the Grain Farmers were able to muster. In 1900, their standing army was only two-hundred men, with the second smallest cavalry only behind the Lumberjacks.[14] As a result, they were susceptible to the raids carried out by the Robbers hired by the Ore Miners. What emerges from this, therefore, is that the Ore Miners were able to take advantage of a pre-existing weakness in the Grain Farmer’s military, once they had developed the technology to build cities.
In regard to the Brick Miners, it was their own poor economic policy that restricted them from industrialising. For example, Tazim Palmer has demonstrated that deals struck in the 1930s, particularly those involving the brick and grain communities, left the former worse off than the Grain Farmers.[15] The reason as to why the Shepherds did not industrialise is quite simple - it was not a form of development that interested them. Sociological studies have shown that it was not a way of life that fit with their preference for a rural lifestyle.[16] Finally, the Lumberjacks were unable to trade from a position of power due to the lack of demand for their resource, which was not needed for city construction.[17] Therefore, it was not only the economic and military achievements of the Ore Miners that allowed them to industrialise, but failures in the management of other settlements and their preference for a different lifestyle that meant that the path to industrialisation was much simpler for the Ore Miners.
To conclude, the Ore Miner’s ability to industrialise at a faster rate than other settlements was primarily due to the necessity of ore for city construction. This allowed them to rise to a position of unrivalled economic strength. Firstly, it allowed them to operate a coercive monopoly over the resource and, in doing so, they were able to detriment other communities through price fixing and by ensuring other groups were unable to accumulate large reserves of ore, whilst also improving their own economies of scale. Crucial to ensuring that economic dominance was maintained was the use of proxy-war military tactics, placing their rivals firmly at a disadvantage in the race for industrialisation. Finally, any analysis of the Ore Miners success in industrialisation must incorporate the fact that it was not just their dominance but other settlements’ failure and limitations. The Grain Farmers’ weak military, the Brick Miners poor economic management, the lack of demand for the resources of Lumberjacks, and the Shepherd preference for a rural lifestyle all meant that they were unable to capitalise on industrialisation. All of these factors were, however, underpinned by the centrality of ore for city building. Notes [1] Jessica Jones, ‘The Great Famine of 1695’, Journal of Farming History, 61:7 (2004), p. 105. [2] Attempts have been made to document this journey, but these were done many years after the settling of Catan, shortly after the founding of the Catan University. For the most thorough inquiry into this see Katie Mead, Years Spent in the Wilderness: The Search for Catan (Catan: Catan University Press, 1910). [3] For a detailed summation of the topographical make-up of Catan, see Jerry McCall, The Geography of Catan (Catan: Catan University, 1995). [4] Bronwyn Williams, ‘Roads and Settlements’ A History of Catan Construction Techniques, 22:5 (2002), p. 32. [5] Clive Hinge, ‘Constructing Settlements’, A History of Catan Construction Techniques, 26:14 (2003), pp. 52-62. [6] Catan Ore Trading Records 1880-1940 (Catan: 1950), p. 13. [7] Robert Smith, The Ore Industry of Catan: 1700-1850 (Catan: Catan University Press, 1999). [8] Ore Trading Records, p. 22. [9] Smith, The Ore Industry of Catan, p. 36. [10] Smith, The Ore Industry of Catan, pp. 110-113. [11] Smith, The Ore Industry of Catan, p. 156. [12] Katie Shaw and Karren Teele (ed.), ‘Robbers’ of Catan: An Oral History (Catan: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), pp. 7-11. [13] Katie Shaw, Methods of Control: Proxy-War and Ore Miners (Catan: Live Publishers, 2006), p. 156. [14] George McGovern, ‘Grain Farmers: Military and Economy’, Grain Farmers History Quarterly, 6:7 (2001), p. 145. [15] Tazim Palmer, The Trade Records of the Brick Miner (Catan: Penguin Publishing, 2001), pp. 35-65. [16] Ernie Barber, A Sociological Study of Shepard’s (Catan: Penguin Publishing, 2001) p. 56. [17] Hinge, Constructing Settlements, p. 162.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Catan Ore Trading Records 1880-1940. Catan: 1950
Palmer, Tazim. The Trade Records of the Brick Miner. Catan: Penguin Publishing, 2001
Shaw, Katie and Teele, Karren (eds.), ‘Robbers’ of Catan: An Oral History. Catan: Blackwell Publishing, 2004
Secondary Sources
Barber, Ernie. A Sociological Study of Shepard’s. Catan: Penguin Publishing, 2001
Hinge, Clive. ‘Constructing Settlements’. A History of Catan Construction Techniques. 26/14. 2003
Jones, Jessica. ‘The Great Famine of 1695’, Journal of Farming History. 61/7, 2004
McCall, Jerry. The Geography of Catan. Catan: Catan University, 1995
McGovern, George. ‘Grain Farmers: Military and Economy’, Grain Farmers History Quarterly, 6/7. 2001
Mead, Katie. Years Spent in the Wilderness: The Search for Catan. Catan: Catan University Press, 1910
Shaw, Katie. Methods of Control: Proxy-War and Ore Miners. Catan: Live Publishers, 2006
Smith, Robert. The Ore Industry of Catan: 1700-1850. Catan: Catan University Press, 1999
Williams, Bronwyn. ‘Roads and Settlements’ A History of Catan Construction Techniques. 22/5, 2002
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