I live on a fault line along the pacific ring of fire, and so building with wood was an absolute necessity for us so long, as they were structurally more lenient to the constant earthquakes. Even now I believe our old government building is the largest wooden building in the Southern hemisphere (and it's only 4 stories tall). These days as construction techniques have changed, we've obviously built things with concrete, steel, brick, etc., but the wooden tradition remains strong, with a huge majority of modern houses here still being built like this.

That aside, wood was also just a much cheaper material to build with, so it was the most economical material to use for a long time for much of the "new world".

[–] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right. Buildings were mostly wood and mud in Europe until the 18th Century. By then, cities became so dense that big fires were extremely deadly. Little by little people started building in stone, then bricks and now reinforced concrete.

[–] droans@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It didn't really have anything to do with fires. Pretty much every hardwood forest was cut down in Europe and any remaining were protected so they could be used to build ships.

America was colonized late enough that it never really became an issue.

[–] banneryear1868@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah exactly they basically stripped their continent bare of lumber during that period and it's all at the bottom of the ocean now. The materials used are just as much determined by economic conditions as practicality.