Early modern lighting of a main European Sea route: From private initiative to public control

Finn Erhard Johannessen

Business History, 2025, vol. 67, issue 1, 147-166

Abstract: The sea route between Denmark and Sweden to the Baltic Sea was provided with lighthouses as early as the 1560s, and much later two lighthouses at the southern tip of Norway were added. Like other Norwegian lighthouses these were built and operated by private individuals with privileges giving them the right to levy duties on shipping. Ronald Coase has described the same phenomenon in England challenging the view that lighthouses as collective goods could not be operated as private enterprise. This led to a great debate where the need for various forms of state support for private interests has been underlined. The article shows that for an international sea route, diplomatic activity vis-à-vis other powers can be included. Finally, the article looks at the public takeover of the lighthouses in Denmark and Norway at the end of the eighteenth century, which is compared with the nationalisation in England.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2023.2239166

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