Saga - 2012, Page 113

svo til órannsökuð, en löngu áður en formlegir kaupstaðir urðu til á
Íslandi höfðu verslunarhafnirnar haft ákveðið hlutverk og þar var
byggð sem í mörgu var annars konar en í sveitunum í kring. Margt
var þó svipað með neyslu í verslunarstöðunum og á stórbýlum.
Verslunarstaðirnir voru dyr umheimsins fyrir Íslendinga. Menn -
ingar legt og atvinnulegt hlutverk verslunarstaðanna er áhugavert að
skoða nánar í þessu samhengi og bendir sérvöruinnflutningurinn
1784 til þess að nokkurs sé af vænta af slíkri athugun.
Abstract
HREFNA RÓBERTSDÓTT IR
LUXURY GOODS AND FOOD CULTURE IN THE ICELAND OF 1784
Food grains, spices, fruits, utensils, tools, paper, furniture, clothes, tableware, jew-
ellery, vegetable seeds and medicinal products were all among the specially
ordered imports to Iceland in 1784. At that time, the Second Royal Trading
Company (1774–1787) had a monopoly on Icelandic trade. New commercial rates
had been issued in 1776. While the new rates covered the main necessities, includ-
ing over a hundred goods, hundreds more were imported in 1784 to meet special
orders. Information on such orders has been preserved in a separate business
ledger in the archives of the Royal Trading Company, kept at the Danish State
Archives in Copenhagen. The unique insights which this ledger offers allowed for
the present analysis of luxury and specially ordered imports, in an effort to note
what such imports might reveal about social structure and regional culture in late
18th-century Iceland. Focusing the analysis on specially imported foodstuffs
shows they were indeed luxury items, and were more in line with what was avail-
able among the upper classes in Copenhagen than what was common in Iceland.
As for tools and equipment bought by special order, they were often urgently
needed for agriculture or other employment and were fairly evenly distributed
throughout the country. While public officials, merchants, craftsmen, major
landowners and some members of the clergy were among the customers order-
ing, the largest number were Icelanders without status. Danes at the trading har-
bours were also conspicuous in the ledger. There is a marked geographical dis-
tinction, however, in the type and quantities of specially ordered foodstuffs
imported to different harbours. While rather few such articles were brought to
North and East Iceland, Reykjanes and Snæfellsnes, significantly larger quantities
were imported to Hofsós, the Westman Islands, Hafnarfjörður, Hólmur, Flatey,
and the West Fjords harbours of Patreksfjörður and Bíldudalur. Analysing the
consumer goods imported to the Westman Islands, Flatey and Patreksfjörður
indicates that the social and cultural standing of their residents contrasted to that
of surrounding communities. The food products imported on special order were
quite different from what was customary among common people.
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