Agriculture and Population Explosion Chapter 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 18 th C. KEY CONCEPTS

  Agriculture – the dominate economy  80% in western Euro – higher in eastern Euro  Early 18 th 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 17 th 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 19 th C AP TIP

  Holland  Most advanced country at the beginning of the 18 th 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 17 th 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 18 th 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 18 th 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 – th 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 18 th C experiences a decline in death rate