ABSTRACT
Forests have contributed to the development of human’s societies and civilizations throughout history. This chapter offers an overview of some of the main milestones in forestry mutations induced by or in response to paradigm shifts understood as changes in thoughts, perceptions, or values granted by human societies to forests and trees. Tribal or postfeudal societies developed diverse forest management regimes in adaptive and dynamic ways. The key role played by wood in the industrial revolution in Europe was a turning point in the emergence of formalized forestry. It was the main source of domestic and industrial energy, support for mining galleries, basic material for building, and even shipbuilding in coastal countries, wood became a strategically important resource in Europe since the seventeenth century. The core concept of modern forestry, sustained yield timber management, resulted from quantification and rationalization applied to both the description of nature and the regulation of economic practice.
