Editing Whaling (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of whaling|Aboriginal whaling}}
[[File:18th century arctic whaling.jpg|thumb|Eighteenth-century engraving showing [[Whaling in the Netherlands|Dutch whalers]] hunting [[bowhead whale]]s in the [[Arctic]]]]
[[File:Abraham Speeck - Danish Whaling Station - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Whaling on [[Danes Island]], by Abraham Speeck, 1634. [[Skokloster Castle]].]]
[[File:Dutch Whaling Scene Bonaventura Peeters.JPG|thumb|One of the oldest known whaling paintings, by [[Bonaventura Peeters the Elder|Bonaventura Peeters]], depicting [[Whaling in the Netherlands|Dutch whalers]] at [[Spitzbergen]] c. 1645]]

Whaling began in prehistoric times in coastal waters. The earliest depictions of whaling are the Neolithic [[Bangudae Petroglyphs]] in Korea, which may date back to 6000 BC.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roman|first1=Joe|title=Whale|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-86189-505-9|page=24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYfxAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT24|access-date=25 March 2017|language=en|date=2006-05-01}}</ref> These images are the earliest evidence for whaling.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Mannino|first1=Marcello A.|last2=Talamo|first2=Sahra|last3=Tagliacozzo|first3=Antonio|last4=Fiore|first4=Ivana|last5=Nehlich|first5=Olaf|last6=Piperno|first6=Marcello|last7=Tusa|first7=Sebastiano|last8=Collina|first8=Carmine|last9=Salvo|first9=Rosaria Di|last10=Schimmenti|first10=Vittoria|last11=Richards|first11=Michael P.|title=Climate-driven environmental changes around 8,200 years ago favoured increases in cetacean strandings and Mediterranean hunter-gatherers exploited them|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=5|pages=16288|doi=10.1038/srep16288|pmid=26573384|pmc=4648091|date=17 November 2015|bibcode=2015NatSR...516288M}}</ref> Although prehistoric [[Hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]] is generally considered to have had little ecological impact, early whaling in the [[Arctic]] may have altered freshwater ecology.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Douglas|first=M. S. V.|year=2004|title=Prehistoric Inuit whalers affected Arctic freshwater ecosystems|journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]]|volume=101|issue=6|pages=1613–1617|doi=10.1073/pnas.0307570100|pmc=341790|pmid=14745043|author2=Smol, J. P.|author3=Savelle, J. M.|author4=Blais, J. M.|bibcode=2004PNAS..101.1613D|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Early whaling affected the development of widely disparate cultures on different continents.<ref>Matera, Anthony. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3970/is_200010/ai_n8917838/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 "Whale quotas: A market-based solution to the whaling controversy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016052849/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3970/is_200010/ai_n8917838/pg_1?tag=artBody%3Bcol1 |date=2015-10-16 }}, ''[[Georgetown International Environmental Law Review]]''. Fall 2000.</ref> The [[History of the Basque people#Basque sailors|Basques]] were the first to catch whales commercially and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the [[North Atlantic]] and even reaching the [[South Atlantic]]. The development of modern whaling techniques was spurred in the 19th century by the increase in demand for [[whale oil]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whalingmuseum.org/library/old_nb/old_nb_index.html |title=From Old Dartmouth to New Bedford, Whaling Metropolis of the World Whaling should be stopped! |publisher=Old Dartmouth Historical Society |access-date=2008-12-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430105742/http://www.whalingmuseum.org/library/old_nb/old_nb_index.html |archive-date=April 30, 2009 }}</ref> sometimes known as "train oil", and in the 20th century by a demand for [[margarine]] and later [[whale meat]].

[[File:Indian Whalers Stripping Their Prey at Neah Bay - 1910.jpg|thumb|Native Americans Stripping Their Prey at [[Neah Bay]] – 1910]]