Chapter 19 – The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century

 For most people, life still remained a struggle with poverty and uncertainty
 Only in science and thought were there significant achievements
 European societies still could not produce very much by modern standards
 Economic basis of European life was beginning to change
 Expansion of agriculture, industry, trade, and population
 Led to the Industrial Revolution
Agriculture and the Land

 Economy of Europe was agrarian

 Agricultural output was low
 Climate  bad harvests  famine  illness  death
 New developments in agricultural technology

The Open-Field  Open-field system: great accomplishment of medieval agriculture

System o Land divided into several large fields, fields divided into long strips, fields
were open; plowing, sowing, harvesting
o Problem = soil exhaustion
 Only way for land to recover was lying fallow
 First one year cropping, one year fallow; then three-year rotations:
one year wheat or rye, one year oat or beans, one year fallow
 Common lands: open meadows for hay and natural pasture
o For draft horses and oxen but also for cows and pigs
o Gleaning of grain, then pasturing
 Level of exploitation varied
o Eastern European peasants were worst off
 5, 6 days of unpaid labor
 Bound to land
o Western Europe had better conditions
 Peasants were free from serfdom
 Life was still hard
The Agricultural  Peasants were only able to improve their conditions in the French Revolution
Revolution  Technological progress offered another possibility to improve conditions
o If they could replace idle fallow with crops, greatly increase land cultivation
o Agricultural Revolution: great milestone for human development
o SECRET: alternating grain with nitrogen-storing crops
 Farmers developed sophisticated crop rotation
 More scientific farming
 Effects of improvements
o Farmers could build up their herds of cattle and sheep
o Many believed that new methods were scarcely possible within the
traditional framework of open fields and common rights
 Farmers needed to enclose scattered holdings into fenced-in fields
  Farmers also needed to enclose common lands
 Enclosure: revolution in village life and organization = price
 Price was too high for many
 Many opposed
 Old system and new system coexisted for a long time
 France & Germany opposed efforts to introduce new techniques
 Techniques only adopted in Low Countries and England
The Leadership of  New methods originated in the Low Countries
the Low Countries  Holland led the way (Dutch)
and England  By the middle of the seventeenth century, agriculture was highly specialized and
commercialized
 Reason for Dutch leadership
o Most densely populated
o Forced to seek maximum yields and increase cultivated area
o Growth of towns and cities
o Growth allowed each farming region to specialize in what they did best
 English were best students
o Drainage and water control
 Dutch experts made a great contribution to draining in England
o Cornelius Vermuyden: large drainage project in Yorkshire and another in
Cambridgeshire
o Jethro Tull: important English innovator, tried to develop better farming
methods through empirical research, enthusiastic about using horses for
plowing, advocated sowing seed with drilling equipment
 English agriculture was in the process of a radical transformation
 Growth in production achieved by land enclosures
o Two major historical developments in England: market-oriented estate
agriculture, emergence of landless rural proletariat
 Land owners  middle sized farmers  landless laborers
 Landless laborers worked long hours with minimum wages
 Lost common rights
 Only gone so far in England

The Beginning of the Population Explosion

 The beginning of the “population explosion”

 Causes of the growth?

Limitations on  Mistaken Belief: Population was always growing too fast

Population  Irregular cyclical pattern
Growth  Black Death: population drop
 1500: second great surge of population growth (food prices soared)  decline in
living standards
 Seventeenth-century: population slowed and stopped
 Demographic crises combined to check growth of population until after 1700
 Famine, epidemic disease, war
 ESPECIALLY FAMINE
 Ex. Thirty Years’ War
 The New Pattern  Population began to grow in 18th century
of the Eighteenth  In all areas of Europe (Especially after 1750)
Century  Causes of population growth
o Women had more babies
o FEWER DEATHS
 Bubonic plague disappeared
 Chance and good luck
o Advances in medical knowledge DID NOT contribute to reducing death rate
o Improvements in water supply and sewerage
 Better health
 Reduced diseases (typhoid and typhus)
 Reduced large insect population
o Human beings became more successful in their efforts to safeguard the
supply of food
 Canal and road building  advances in transportation  lessened
impact of local crop failure and famine
o Wars were less destructive
o New foods

Cottage Industry and Urban Guilds

 Development of industry in rural areas

 Cottage industry: manufacturing with hand tools in peasant cottages and work sheds
 Medieval peasants did not produce manufactured goods on a large scale for sale in a market
 Guilds continued to dominate production in towns and cities
 Reassessment of guilds

The Putting-Out  Putting out system

System o Cottage industry was often organized through this
o Two main participants: merchant capitalist & rural worker
o Merchant “put out” raw materials and worker processed materials and
gave back to merchants
o Endless variations
 Sometimes workers brought their own materials
 Sometimes whole family; sometimes gender based
o Usually wages from industry became more important than wages from land
with time
o Production was often broken into many stages
o Putting-out system grew because it had competitive advantages
 A lot of underemployed labor
 Peasants willing to work for low wages
 Workers and merchants could change procedures (unregulated)
 Became capable of producing many goods
 Skills of rural industry were sufficient for everyday articles
o Did not spread at an even rate
o Developed most successfully in England (woolen cloth)
o Most continental countries developed rural industry more slowly
(exception: Flanders and Netherlands)
The Textile  Industry that employed most people in Europe until nineteenth century
Industry  Typical activity of cottage workers in putting-out system was making linen, woolen
and cotton cloth
 Rural worker lived in a small cottage with a few pieces of furniture; weaver’s loom
was most important
 Handloom weaving was a family enterprise
o Men operated loom
o Women/children: auxiliary tasks
 Always a serious imbalance in textile manufacture before mechanization
o Needed four or five spinners to keep one weaver employed
o Alternate sources were needed to spin
o Wives/daughters of agricultural workers
o “spinsters”: unmarried woman
o Local shopkeepers to manage spinners
 Conflict between workers and employers
o Disputes over the weights of materials and quality of finished work
o Conditions were hard for female workers
o Rural labor was cheap, scattered, and poorly organized  hard to control
o Pace of work depended on agricultural calendar
o Merchants accused workers of laziness, intemperance, and immorality
o New police powers over workers
Urban Guilds  Highest point of the guild system occurred in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
 Colbert used guilds to increase high-quality production and to collect taxes
 Guild masters were at the top
o Detailed set of privileges: exclusive rights to produce and sell certain goods,
access to restricted markets in raw materials, rights to train apprentices,
hire workers, and open shops
 Guilds also served social and religious functions
 Guilds restricted membership to good Christian men with experience
 Favored family connections
 Most men and women worked in non-guild trades
 Guilds’ ability to enforce rigid barriers varied across Europe
o England: national regulations over guild regulations
o France: Crown had ambiguous attitude toward guilds, relying on them for
taxes , but still allowed non-guild production to flourish (Faubourg Saint-
Antoine)
o Germany: German guilds most powerful in Europe, most conservative
 Critics of guilds derided them as outmoded institutions that obstructed progress
 More recently, however, scholars have emphasized flexibility and adaptability of
the guild system
o Guild masters adopted new technologies
o Economic regulation did not hinder commerce but instead fostered the
confidence necessary to stimulate it
o Regulation helped each side trust in the other’s good faith
 Some guilds grew more accessible to women
o Dressmaking
o New vocational training programs for needlework
o More women were hired as skilled workers
 Some artisans still espoused the ideals of the guilds
 The Industrious  Industrious revolution: social and economic changes taking place in Europe in the
Revolution late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries
 Households: reduced leisure time, stepped up pace of work, redirected labor of
women and children away from production of goods from household consumption
and toward wage work
 Effect is still debated
 Households had more cash to participate in consumer economy
 Role of women and children in economy is controversial
o When they entered the market, almost always worked at menial tedious jobs
for low wages
o However, wages = bigger role in household
 New sources and patterns of labor established important foundations for Industrial
Revolution
o All household members worked for wages
 Today’s world = second industrious revolution

Building a Global Economy

 Expansion also characterized by the growth of world trade

 Spain and Portugal revitalized empires
 Northwestern Europe benefitted the most
 Great Britain gradually became leading maritime power
 British played critical role in Atlantic economy and conducted ruthless competition

Mercantilism and  Mercantilism: system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the
Colonial Wars state
o Practiced by Colbert
o Favorable balance of foreign trade in order to increase tock of gold
o Gold holdings = “treasure chest” to pay for war
 Navigation Acts: result of the English desire to increase both military power and
private wealth (mercantile system)
o First established by Oliver Cromwell
o Required most goods imported from Europe into England and Scotland be
carried on British-owned ships with British crews
o Gave British virtual monopoly on trade with British colonies
o Believed it would help British merchants and workers as well as colonial
plantation owners and farmers
o Form of economic warfare (first target: Dutch, second target: France)
o Seriously damaged Dutch shipping and commerce
o New Amsterdam  “New York”
o France already building worldwide system of monopolized colonial trade
 France vs. England (fighting to be leading maritime power)
o War of the Spanish Succession
 Louis XIV accepted Spanish crown willed to grandson
 Union of France and Spain threatened British colonies
 Peace of Utrecht: Louis XIV had to give land to British; Spain gave
Britain control of West African slave trade “asiento”
 o War of Austrian Succession
 Started when Frederick the Great of Prussia took Silesia from Maria
Theresa (Austria)
 War ended with no change in territory
o Seven Years’ War
 Maria Theresa wanted to win back Silesia and crush Prussia
 Wanted to Reestablish Hapsburgs
 Prussia survived
 Decisive round for colonial empire (between French and British)
 War to conquer Canada (French)
 French and Canadian forces first fought well and had major
victories (Montcalm)
 Then British used sea power to destroy French (Pitt)
 Quebec – British destroyed France, sealed France’s fate
 Treaty of Paris: British victory, France lost mainland North America
(Canada), France gave Louisiana to Spain, France gave holdings in
India  British dominance
 British naval power realized its goal of monopolizing a vast trading
and colonial empire
o Results
 London became West’s largest and richest city
 Growing agricultural populations provided expanding market for
English goods  English exports to Atlantic economy increased
 English exports became more balanced and diversified
 Foreign trade
 America/Africa = metal
 French still profited enormously from colonial trade
 Saint Domingue/Martinique/Guadeloupe = fortunes in
sugar plantations, coffee, and slave trading
Land and Labor in  Britain’s empire in North America
British America o Surplus population  migration abroad limited poverty at home
o Settlers had unlimited free land
o American farmers kept most of what they produced
o Demand for labor  growth of slavery
 Spanish and Portuguese introduced slavery to Americas
 Slaves from Africa
 Dutch followed example
 Slaves worked on sugar plantations
 Large plantations in Virginia were worked entirely by slaves by 1730
 Increase in tobacco production
 Slavery was uncommon in New England and middle colonies
o Colonists had their place in Navigation Acts (supplying British Isles with their
products)
o Colonial free land  population increase
 10x
 Agricultural development resulted in high standards of living
The Atlantic Slave  Most significant portion of trade in African people
Trade  Key element in Atlantic system and Western European economic expansion
 Intensified after 1750
  Taken to Americas in chains
 Contribution to the development of the Atlantic economy
o Possible for large-scale production (Africans produced 4/5)
o Sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice, cotton
o Cash from production paid for manufactured goods and services in Britain
 Fundamental changes in organization
o Before: costly wars (to control slave exports), After: concentrated on commerce
(shore method, less expensive)
 Increasing demands, increasing prices (slaves)
o Negative consequences predominated
o Wars between Africans
o Leaders bought more war arms and less consumer goods
 Kingdom of Dahomey profited greatly as a major supplier of slaves
 Congo (central Africa): Portuguese search for slaves undermined monarchy,
destroyed political unity, led to constant disorder
 Small-scale slave raiding
o Kidnappers seized and enslaved men and women
o Olaudah Equiano
 African misdemeanors = sale to slave dealers
 Population of Africa stagnated or possibly declined
 Most of Europe considered African slave trade a legitimate business
 Ships of African slaves never landed in northwestern Europe, there was already
cheap labor
 Runaways  London
 1775: campaign to abolish slavery
o Women played critical role
o 1807: Parliament abolished slave trade
Revival in Colonial  Charles II died = Spain almost dismembered, but revived
Latin America  European-oriented landowning aristocracy enhanced position in colonial society
 Spain recovered because of better leadership
o Philip V
o Reforming ministers
 Colonies defended themselves from British attacks and increased in size
 Political success = economic improvement
o Spanish influence to northern California
o Silver mining recovered greatly
o Food production for the mining camps
o Creole merchants handled trade
 Creole estate owners controlled much of the land and wanted to become a genuine
European aristocracy
 Estate owners believed Native Americans should do field work
o Slavery & forced labor  debt peonage (form of serfdom)
 Mestizos: middle group in Spanish colonies, offspring of Spanish men and Indian
women (about 30% of population)
 Many slaves worked on sugar plantations in Portuguese Brazil
 South America occupied important place in expanding Atlantic economy
Trade and Empire  Europeans continued to dominate Asian trade
in Asia  Portuguese had become major players in Indian Ocean trading
  Old pattern of merchants from many areas as autonomous players changed with
Dutch and then English
 Dutch
o Fleets sailed directly for Indonesia and its wealth of spices (success)
o Dutch East India Company: to capture spice trade for Portuguese
o Won broad commercial concessions (Jakarta)
o Captured a monopoly on spic trade
o Turned autonomous business partners into dependents
o Dutch hold in Asia faltered in eighteenth century because of company’s failure
to diversify to meet changing consumption patterns
o Competition with English East India Company
 English
o Initially struggled for foothold in Asia
o East India Company increasingly intervened in local affairs and made alliances
or waged war against Indian princes
o Great rival in India was France (resolved by Treaty of Paris)
o Clive, a company agent, became first British governor general with direct
authority over Bengal
o India was “jewel” of British empire
Adam Smith and  Strong reaction against mercantilism
the Economic  Adam Smith: idea of freedom of enterprise in foreign trade
Liberalism o Scottish Enlightenment
o Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) basis for
modern economics, highly critical of mercantilism
o said mercantilism meant a combination of government regulations and unfair
privileges
o preferred: free competition
o argued government should only limit itself to three duties: provide a defense
against foreign invasion, maintain civil order, and sponsor public works and
institutions that private investors would not profit from
o pursuit of self-interest in competitive market = gradual progress
o seemed as an advocate for unbridled capitalism
o applauded rise of wages for British workers
o called for government intervention to raise workers’ living standards
o great international impact
o “economic liberalism”