 After the publication of his book on the fur trade , Innis turned to a study of an earlier staple — the <unk> fished for centuries off the eastern coasts of North America , especially the Grand Banks of Newfoundland . The result was The Cod Fisheries : The History of an International Economy published in 1940 , 10 years after the fur trade study . Innis tells the detailed history of competing empires in the exploitation of a <unk> natural resource — a history that ranges over 500 years . While his study of the fur trade focused on the continental interior with its <unk> rivers and lakes , The Cod Fisheries looks outward at global trade and empire , showing the far @-@ reaching effects of one staple product both on imperial centres and on marginal colonies such as Newfoundland , Nova Scotia and New England . 
