The Expansion of Europe in the 18th

C

Agriculture and Population ExplosionChapter 19

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