The reliance of the modern Swedish economy on forestry masks the fact that for hundreds of years slash-and-burn agriculture was a central feature of forest management. This paper gave a short history of slash-and-burn, which reached a zenith during the Middle Ages. The growth of the mining industry in the 18th century called for ever larger quantities of fuel wood, leading to goverment policy that favoured forestry over agriculture, and slash-and-burn finally died out in the 19th century