2(1) What fundamental economic changes were emerging in Great Britain between (roughly) 1650 and 1750? How were colonies instrumental in
this economic model?
(2) Compare and contrast mercantilism with economic liberalism, as advocated by Adam Smith. In what ways was Smith consistent with
Enlightenment thinking?
CHAPTER 18: THE EXPANSION OF EUROPE (1650-1800)
Pre Chapter
I. 18th cent poverty and uncertainty during absolutism and aristocracy
A. 1700s peasants and artisans barely lived better than ancestors in Middle Ages (b/c Euro societies still couldn’t
produce very much as measured by modern standards)
B. Not enough good food, clothing, housing
C. Only small elite attending salons could experience progress
II. 18th cent Euro life changes as it emerges from 17th cent crisis, responds to challenges, and expands
A. Rising Atlantic powers (England, France, Holland)
B. Population growth - colonial empires developed; colonial elites prospered
C. Agriculture, industry, trade population expansion → beginning of Euro civilization surge w/o being cut short by
plague or famine
1. Response to new challenges → Industrial Revolution
Working the Land
I. Pre-Notes - What important developments led to the agricultural revolution, and how did these changes affect peasants?
A. End of 17th cent economy was agriculturally based
1. West Euro - 80% agriculturally based; East Euro - higher percentage
a) Men and women tied to land - plowed fields, sowed seeds, reaped harvests, stored grain YET produce yields
even in rich agricultural regions was low by modern standards
B. 16th-17th cents experienced poor climate and harvests
1. Bad diet → famine and illness
a) Eating bad food during poor harvests (i.e. grass) → intestinal problems
C. New developments in agricultural tech and methods gradually brings end to hunger in West Euro
II. The Legacy of the Open-Field System
A. Open-field system doesn’t produce material abundance from Middle Ages to 17th cent
1. Land divided into several large, open fields cut up into long, narrow strips
a) Whole peasant village followed same pattern of plowing, sowing, and harvesting according to
tradition and village leaders
B. Soil exhaustion leads to introductions of new farming methods
1. Soil exhaustion - nitrogen depletion from wheat; recovery meant lying fallow
2. Early Middle Ages - fallow year alternated with year of cropping
3. Later 3 year rotations introduced on more fertile lands
a) On each strip: year of wheat or rye followed by year of oats or beans then fallow
b) Staggered rotation of crops (wheat, legumes, pastureland always available)
c) Important b/c cash crops could be grown 2 years out of 3 instead of 1 out of 2
C. Traditional village rights reinforced communal patterns of farming
1. Villages maintained open meadows for hay and natural pasture
2. brief period (established by tradition) of grain gleaning
a) Poor women pick up single grains that fell to ground during harvest
3. pastured animals on wheat or rye stubble after harvest
4. Villages surrounded by woodlands → firewood, building materials, roots and berries
D. East Euro State and landlords levied heavy taxes and high rents on peasants w/ varying levels of exploitation
1. East Euro peasants were hit hardest - bound to lords in hereditary service
E. West Euro social conditions better where peasants were generally freed from serfdom
1. France, west Germany, England, and Low Countries - owned land and could pass onto children
2. Village life hardships - poor peasants owned only a portion of land they worked); forced to seek wages in
variety of jobs to make living
III. The Agricultural Revolution
A. Peasants will revolt and take land from its owners
1. BUT stable political/social conditions of ruling elites ready to crush rebellion
a) French Revolution 1789 - Euro peasants able to improve their position by means of radical mass
action
2. Technological progress - could increase cultivation land by removing fallow period
a) Agricultural revolution (mid 17th-19th cents) - great agricultural progress
B. Usage of nitrogen-storing crops and new systematic agricultural approaches eliminates need for fallow
1. Peas and beans, root crops (turnips, potatoes), clovers and grasses
2. Farmers developed better patterns of crop rotation for different soils
, 3. Sci Rev fuels continuous experimentation
C. Effects of farming improvement
1. New crops → ideal feed for animals → farmers could build up cattle and sheep collection → more meat
→ better diets and poop as fertilizer → more grain
D. Process of implementing new crop rotations included many different people
1. Advocates of new crop rotations (scientists, some govt officials, few big landowners): methods could be
possible within traditional framework of open fields and common rights
2. Farmer who wanted to try new method needed to get all landholders in village to agree
a) Advocates argued enclosure - innovating agriculturalists needed to fence in fields to farm more
effectively
(1) At expense of poor peasants who relied on common fields for farming and pasture
(2) Innovators needed to enclose individual shares of village’s natural pastureland (the
common)
b) Enclosure = revolution in village life and organization was necessary price of technical progress
E. Opposition among poor peasants and rural people to enclosure
1. Had small, inadequate holdings to little/no land at all
2. Held precisely onto traditional rights - used commonly held pasture land to graze livestock; used
marshlands or forests as source of foraged goods
3. When they could effectively oppose enclosure of open fields and common lands, they did:
a) Many found allies among noble landowners wary of enclosure b/c it required large investments
in purchasing and fencing land → posed risks for them too
F. Old system of unenclosed open fields and new system of continuous rotation coexisted in Euro
1. Open fields in France and Germany as late as 19th cent - peasants successfully opposed 18th cent efforts
to introduce new techniques
2. Low Countries and England throughout end of 18th cent - new system of enclosure adopted
IV. The Leadership of the Low Countries and England
A. New methods of agricultural revolution originated in Low Countries, specifically 17th cent Holland
1. Mid 17th cent - intensive farming established: enclosed field innovations, continuous rotation, heavy
manuring, and variety of crops present
2. Agriculture highly specialized and commercialized
B. Dense Dutch population leads to early leadership in farming
1. Forced early on to maximize yields from their land to provide adequate food and employment
a) Increased cultivated area through steady draining of marshes and swamps
2. Population → growth of cities → markets and regions specializing in different things → Dutch could
develop potential
C. English were best students and received instruction on agriculture and other aspects
1. Dutch were world leaders in drainage and water control - great contribution to draining marshes of
England
a) Cornelius Vermuyden - directed large drainage projects; reclaimed acres of land used to farm in
Dutch manner
2. SUMMARY: swamps turned into thousands of acres of some of the best land in England
D. Jethro Tull (1674-1741) - important English innovator
1. Son of early Enlightenment - adopted critical attitude toward accepted ideas about farming
2. Tried to develop better methods through empirical research
3. Some of his agricultural values:
a) Horses instead of oxen for plowing
b) Advocated sowing seeds with drilling equipment instead of by hand - distributed seeds properly
4. Early success of English country men breeding faster horses + fox hunts → improvements in livestock
a) Selective breeding is improvement over haphazard breeding of past
E. BRIEF OVERVIEW: The long yet radical English transformation
1. 1870s English farmers producing 300% more food than in 1700s while population increased by 14%
a) Agricultural production surge → food for growing urban population
b) Growth in production achieved in part by land enclosures
(1) Around half of English farmland was enclosed through private initiatives prior to 1700
c) 1760s-1815 series of Parl acts enclosed most of remaining common land
F. 18th cent enclosure mvmt marked completion of two major historical developments in England
1. Eliminating common rights and reducing access of poor men and women to land leads to…
a) Rise of market-oriented estate agriculture
(1) Early 19th cent - tiny minority of wealthy English/Scot landowners held most land and
pursued profits aggressively
(a) Leased their holdings through agents at competitive prices to middle-size
farmers who relied on landless laborers for workforce
