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The 18th C saw enormous changes in the lives of
ordinary people, with agricultural improvements and new patterns of manufacturing, a rapid rise in population and increasing prosperity, particularly in the Atlantic countries involved in colonization and trade in Asia, Africa and the Americas. These widespread economic changes set the stage for the Industrial Revolution and are comparable in their significance to the economic and social expansion in the 11th & 12th C that paved the way for the Renaissance.
Overview
An agricultural revolution, involving the
enclosure of common lands, the use of new crops and the application of scientific principles to agriculture, led to a great burst in agriculture productivity. England was at the forefront of these changes.
The European population increased dramatically in the 18th C.
KEY CONCEPTS
Agriculture – the dominate economy
80% in western Euro – higher in eastern Euro
Early 18th C
Yield low – 5/6 bushels per bushel planted
Poor harvests regularly – every 8/9 years
People vulnerable to disease
Smallpox and influenza
Famines forces unhealthy diets – bark and grass
AGRICULTURE AND THE LAND
Developed in the Middle Ages
Divided large fields into strips – exhausted the soil
To restore ½ or 1/3 of land needed to be left unplanted (fallow) each year
Used by all as grazing lands
Agricultural improvement – New Technology & Ideas
Crop rotation
Replanting with crops that restore nitrates
Peas, beans, turnips, potatoes, clover, grasses
Increased productivity meant more feed to animals…more animals…more manure…higher productivity
More animals…more meat
More wheat…more bread & porridge
Open field system (commons)
One of the most important components of the agricultural revolution was the ending of the practice of leaving the land fallow. By ending this practice agricultural productivity went up substantially. Although enclosure and the other options were important and helped to make increased productivity possible, crop rotation and planting fields every year were the definitive elements.
Enclosure of common lands
Smaller landowners sold out to larger ones
Leading to a concentration of ownership
Landowners created larger fields and fenced them in
Purpose was to experiment with new methods and new crops
Smaller landowner effected
Once used as commons
Resisted
More successful in France & Germany
Less successful in England & Netherlands
Enclosure Movement
Because such enclosures broke traditional rights, and act of Parliament was necessary in England to enclose the common fields in those cases where private initiatives would not suffice. For this reason, historians have a great deal of evidence about enclosure, which began in the early 17th C in England. The fact that the enclosure movement in Germany and France was much less extensive was because farms there tended to remain small and since larger farms (western Euro) generate greater surplus capital, industrialization did not begin in Eastern Europe until the 19th C
AP TIP
Holland Most advanced country at the beginning of the 18th C
Well-estab constitutional government Tradition of tolerance Trade Empire Lowest percentage of pop. engaged in agriculture
Sophisticated farmers Commercial
Drained swamps & marshes – cultivated/specialized crops Other European agriculturalists learned new techniques
The Dutch helped Eng. drain swamps/marshes in the 17th C to create some of the most fertile land in Eng.
THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LOW COUNTRIES AND ENGLAND
England
Jethro Tull – agricultural innovator Advocated horse rather than oxen to pull ploughs Drilling equipment rather than hand sowing for seeds Selective breeding of livestock
Market oriented agriculture Small minority owned majority of land
By the end of 18th C most British farms were enclosed Large landowners rented out land to middle class
Landless worked farms Urbanization
By 1870s farms produced 300% more than in 1700s Availability of foodstuffs opened door for rural poor to move to the cities
Proletarianization Landless workers were being turned into laborers and wage-earners Greatest degree of proletarianism was in England
THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LOW COUNTRIES AND ENGLAND
There is no doubt why it was easier to turn landless workers into factory workers and miners, a process that they resisted to a large degree in the early years. The extent of the agricultural revolution is England is one of the most important factors why the Industrial Revolution took place there.
AP TIP
Pop growth began in the 18th and continued for 200 yrs! Patterns of population surges (slow & erratic)
Black Death – pop declined Survivors experienced opportunities for better standard of
living It took 200 yrs to return to pre-1348 levels
Pop surge after 1500 General decline in standard of living
No surge in agricultural productivity Higher food prices Price revolution
Infusion of gold & silver from New World
POPULATION EXPLOSTION
Occasional higher birth rates Offset by demographic misfortunes
Epidemics, wars, famines Example: Germany
2/3 pop decline – 30 Years War Example: Marseilles, France
100,000 died major outbreak of plague – 1720
17th pop growth stagnated
Improvement in public health
Mysterious disappearance of the Plague Possibly due to more extensive use of quarantines
Inoculation against smallpox Lady Monaqu & Edward Jenner (important in Eng – hardly use
on continent) Improvement in water supply, sewage systems & swamp drainage
Reduced diseases – typhoid & typhus Diminished disease carrying flies & mosquitoes
Circulation of foodstuffs improved Road & canal construction throughout Western Eur.
Warfare less destructive, more gentlemanly New crops
Example: South American potatoes
18th C experiences a decline in death rate