The Expansion of Europe in the 18th Century

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The Expansion of Europe in the 18th Century
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• Most of the arable land was divided into a few
  large fields, which was then cut up into long
  narrow strips and farmed jointly by people in
  the community. Usually much of the land was left
  fallow because they were attempting to keep from
  depleting the soil. Common land was set-aside for
  people to graze their animals usually shepherds
  watched these animals while their owners worked
  the fields.

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• New discoveries and improvements in agriculture
  caused the larger landholders to want to enclose
  their fields. They were using new cover cover
  crops, crops that produced more nitrogen, contour
  tillage. They were also experimenting with
  different crops in different types of soils.
  Also, these new crops were ideal feed for
  animals. As animal herds grew, the amount of
  manure grew, which provided more fertilize. They
  would never get all the villagers to agree to his
  new way, so they simply closed their lands off.

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• Modern agriculture innovation began in Holland.
  Because this area was so heavily populated, the
  Dutch from the Middle Ages onward had learned to
  maximize crop output by draining wetlands,
  building dikes. Also, the growing Dutch cities
  provided markets for Dutch peasants to sell their
  wares. This caused peasantry to the innovative
  and learn how to maximize the output of their
  lands.
• The English put these innovations to use
• Turnips were introduced as a root crop for
  fertilize.
• English fens were drained and brought under
  cultivation.
• New inventions like the seed drill improved
  fertility.
• Selective breeding began to produce fatter
  animals.
• Horses began to be used for plowing rather than
  oxen.

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• Enclosure was the fencing off of land. Wealthy
  landowners wanted to maximize the potential
  profits of their land, and they couldnt do this
  by sharing. They were also, very often, MPs or
  connected to members of parliament. They got laws
  passed which forced the division of lands. Many
  poor peasant families did lose their lands
  through these measures.
• However, the process was so gradual that there
  was often opportunity for the landless laborers
  to adjust. Usually they worked for the tenant
  farmers, men who rented land on a large scale and
  sold their proceeds for a nice profit. These men
  hired out the landless peasantry on the farms,
  since the methods of cultivation would require
  more labor.
• All in all, enclosure was a step forward for more
  productive farming.

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• Basically a decreasing death rate was
  responsible. Europeans had always had a pretty
  constant birthrate. The disappearance of the
  plague, stricter quarantine measures, and the
  eventual elimination of the black rat by the
  brown rat had lessened the impact of disease.
• Better agriculture methods led to longer
  lifespan.
• Improved sanitation promoted better public health.

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• Better quarantine methods and an understanding of
  the relationship between rats and the disease.

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• See number 5

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• This involved rural workers producing cloth in
  their own homes for merchant-capitalists, who
  provided the raw materials and paid for the
  finished goods. This system grew because A) there
  was lots of rural labor, since the enclosure
  movements had driven many small farmers out, and
  B) it was cheap.

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• For the capitalists, it was cheap labor.
  Unfortunately, it was hard to control the quality
  of the cloth.
• For the workers, it was steady work but it didnt
  pay well. Also a major problem was always that
  there werent enough spinners to make yarn for
  the weavers. In addition, there were no
  guarantees from the investor.

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• Mercantilism is a system of economic regulations
  aimed at increasing the power of the state,
  mainly by creating a favorable balance of trade.
  In England particularly, government regulations
  served the interests of private individuals.
• A)It clearly was a cause of war especially in
  North America and India, since mercantilism
  depended on colonial raw materials and markets.
  Colonial possessions became a must.
• B)Since Englands colonies in America, India, and
  the Caribbean could only trade with England,
  English merchants and manufacturers grew wealthy.

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• See chart

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• The American colonist s benefited in the sense
  that American shipbuilding boomed, especially in
  New England. There was a guaranteed market for
  American goods (raw materials) in England and
  other English colonies.
• However, mercantilism had a negative
  sidecolonists were forced to buy finished goods
  from British manufacturers at high prices. They
  were also forbidden from producing certain goods
  in the colonies, which would hurt English
  domestic production. This all began to produce
  resentment in the colonies.

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• The creoles were the dominant landowners,
  pureblooded whites who were aspiring to European
  like aristocracy. The mestizos were racially
  mixed peoples, who formed a class that could
  aspire to become as powerful as the creoles. The
  Indians formed the peasant class, and steadily
  came under the control of the creole class.