Download The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century

CHAPTER 19
The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth
Century
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES
After reading and studying this chapter, students should be able to describe the causes and effects of the
agricultural revolution and explain why certain nations led the way in these developments. They should
be able to discuss Europe’s dramatic rise in population in the eighteenth century. They should also be
able to assess the contribution of cottage industries to Europe’s economic and social development.
Finally, they should be able to discuss the place of colonial markets in Europe’s transformation and
identify the key costs and conflicts that resulted from the growth of global trade.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I.
Agriculture and the Land
A. The Open-Field System
1. The open-field system was the great accomplishment of medieval agriculture.
2. Three field rotations helped keep fields fertile.
3. Traditional village rights reinforced traditional patterns of farming.
4. Peasants were exploited in a number of ways, with those in Eastern Europe generally
the worst off.
B. The Agricultural Revolution
1. The use of more complex systems of crop rotation increased the amount of land under
cultivation.
2. Grain crops were alternated with nitrogen-storing crops.
3. The open-field system was ended by “enclosing” the fields, particularly in England.
4. The enclosure movement meant an end to common lands and to the independence of
the rural poor who relied on them to survive.
C. The Leadership of the Low Countries and England
1. Prior to the agricultural revolution, Holland was already the most advanced country in
Europe in many areas. By the mid-seventeenth century intensive farming was well
established throughout the Netherlands.
2. One important Dutch advantage was a very dense population.
3. The English were adept at learning from the Dutch.
4. Jethro Tull gained fame in experimental agriculture and animal husbandry.
5. By the mid-eighteenth century, English agriculture was in the process of a radical
transformation.
6. Half of all English land was enclosed by 1700.
7. By 1700 a distinctive pattern of landownership and production existed in England.
8. Enclosure marked the emergence of market-oriented estate agriculture and of a
landless rural proletariat.
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Chapter 19: The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century
II.
137
The Beginning of the Population Explosion
A. Limitations on Population Growth
1. Famine, disease, and war were the usual checks on growth.
2. Europe’s population growth was kept fairly low.
B. The New Pattern of the Eighteenth Century
1. Fewer deaths occurred, in part due to the disappearance of the plague.
2. Advances in medicine did little to decrease the death rate.
3. Improved sanitation promoted better public health.
4. An increase in the food supply meant fewer famines and epidemics.
III. Cottage Industry and Urban Guilds
A. The Putting-Out System
1. The two main participants in the putting-out system were the merchant capitalist and
the rural worker.
2. Merchants loaned, or “put out,” raw materials to workers who processed the raw
materials and returned finished goods to the merchant.
3. The putting-out system grew because it had competitive advantages.
4. Rural manufacturing did not spread across Europe at an even rate.
B. The Textile Industry
1. Throughout most of Europe’s history, the textile industry has employed more people
than any other industry.
2. Most participants in cottage industry worked in textiles.
3. Cottage industry was a family enterprise.
4. Relations between workers and employers were often marked by conflict.
C. Urban Guilds
1. Europe’s guild system reached its highest point in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.
2. Guild masters were at the top of the world of work.
3. Guilds jealously restricted their membership.
4. The power of guilds varied across Europe.
5. Critics of guilds saw them as obstacles to innovation and progress.
6. Over the course of the eighteenth century, some guilds grew more accessible to
women.
D. The Industrious Revolution
1. One scholar has used the term “industrious revolution” to describe Europe’s social and
economic transformation.
2. Northern European households made new choices about the allocation of time and
resources.
3. The impact of these new patterns of the quality of life for ordinary people is hotly
debated.
4. Economic and social change in the eighteenth century laid the foundation for the
Industrial Revolution.
IV. Building the World Economy
A. Mercantilism and Colonial Wars
1. English mercantilism was characterized by government regulations that served the
interests both of the state and of private individuals. Mercantilism in other European
countries generally served only state interests.
2. The Navigation Acts of 16511663 were a form of economic warfare against Dutch
domination of Atlantic shipping. They gave British merchants and ship owners a near
monopoly on trade with Britain’s North American colonies.
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138
Chapter 19: The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century
3.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
After defeating the Dutch, England fought a series of wars with France for maritime
domination of the world.
a) War of the Spanish Succession (17011713)
b) War of the Austrian Succession (17401748)
c) The Seven Years’ War (17561763) ended with British winning full control over
India and North America.
4. London grew into the West’s largest and richest city.
5. Colonial populations provided an expanding market for English manufactured goods.
6. English exports were increasingly balanced and diversified.
7. Despite their losses, the French profited enormously from colonial trade.
Land and Labor in British America
1. In Britain’s North American colonies cheap land and scarce labor resulted in the
following:
a) Rapid increase in the colonial population in the eighteenth century.
b) Import of African slaves to tobacco plantations in southern colonies.
c) Growing prosperity for British colonists.
The Atlantic Slave Trade
1. The forced migration of millions of Africans was a key element in the Atlantic system
and western European economic expansion.
2. After 1700, Britain was the undisputed leader of the slave trade.
3. Increasing demand led to rising prices for African slaves.
4. Africans participated in the trade.
5. After 1775, a campaign to abolish slavery developed in Britain.
Revival in Colonial Latin America
1. Under Philip V (r. 17001746) Spain recovered economically and successfully
defended her American colonies.
2. Rising silver exports in the eighteenth century helped create a class of wealthy Creole
(people of Spanish blood born in America) merchants.
3. Creole estate owners dominated much of the peasant population through debt peonage,
really a form of serfdom.
4. The large middle group in the Spanish colonies were the mestizos, the offspring of
Spanish men and Indian women.
Trade and Empire in Asia
1. Europeans vied for dominance of Asian trade.
2. At the end of the sixteenth century, the Dutch became major players in the Asian spice
trade.
3. The Dutch replaced the Portuguese as the dominant European power in the Indian
Ocean trade world, transforming Asian business partners into dependents.
4. In the eighteenth century, the Dutch faced fierce competition from the English East
India Company.
5. The British focused their attention on India.
6. Britain’s great rival in India was France.
7. By the early 1800s, the British had gained economic and political dominance over
much of the subcontinent.
Adam Smith and Economic Liberalism
1. Smith challenged mercantilist ideas with his defense of free trade and his argument for
keeping government interference in the economy to a minimum (The Wealth of
Nations [1776]).
2. Smith was one of the Enlightenment’s most original thinkers.
3. His work became the basis of the classic argument for economic liberalism.
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Chapter 19: The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century
139
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1.
“Jethro Tull and His Age.” Who was Jethro Tull? What did he contribute to the agricultural
revolution of the eighteenth century? Sources: M. Overton, Agricultural Revolution in England
(1996); J. Neeson, Commoners: Common Right, Enclosure, and Social Change (1993); B. H.
Slicher van Bath, The Agrarian History of Western Europe, A.D. 5001850 (1963); A. Kussmaul,
A General View of the Rural Economy of England, 1538–1840 (1989).
2.
“Women and the Industrial Revolution.” What was the role of women in the Industrial Revolution
of the eighteenth century? What role did gender play in the organization of work in the early days
of the Industrial Revolution? Sources: C. Crowston, Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old
Regime France (2001); D. Hefter, ed., European Women and Industrial Craft (1995); G.
Gullickson, Spinners and Weavers of Auffay (1986).
3.
“The Negative Side of European Expansion: The Slave Trade.” What factors led to the Atlantic
slave trade? What were Europeans’ attitudes toward people of color in the eighteenth century?
Sources: P. Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery (1997); P. Harms, The Diligent: A
Voyage Through the Worlds of the Slave Trade (2002); E. Williams, Capitalism and Slavery
(1966); R. Pares, Yankees and Creoles (1956).
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
I.
Classroom Discussion Suggestions
A. What factors enabled the English to lead the agricultural revolution?
B. Discuss how the putting-out system worked.
C. What were the effects of the enclosure system?
D. How was European competition manifested in the European colonies?
E. How did European competition for Asian trade differ from European competition for
Atlantic trade?
F. What role did guilds play in the economic and social transformations of the eighteenth
century?
II. Doing History
A. What did it take for an eighteenth-century peasant family to survive? Was the eighteenth
century a period of spiraling inflation? Source: E. E. Rich and C. H. Wilson, eds.,
Cambridge Economic History of Europe, 8 vols. (Second edition, 1966).
B. Have students read one of the following novels and write a short paper on what the novel
reveals about the social history of the period. Sources: H. Fielding, Tom Jones; J. Austen,
Emma and Pride and Prejudice; D. Defoe, Moll Flanders.
III. Cooperative Learning Activities
A. Peasants to Industrial Laborers
Teams should investigate the transition from serfdom to industrial laborers, either
geographically or by trade. Students might consult E. L. Ladurie, The Peasants of
Languedoc (1976); P. Higonnet, Pont-de-Monvert: Social Structure and Politics in a French
Village 1700–1914 (1971); O. Hufton, The Poor in Eighteenth-Century France (1974); G.
Gullickson, Spinners and Weavers of Auffay (1986); M. Sonenschen, The Hatters of
Eighteenth-Century France (1987). Each group/team should present its findings to the class.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
140
Chapter 19: The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century
MAP ACTIVITY
1.
Have students shade in the countries that witnessed agricultural and economic revolutions in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on a blank outline map of Europe.
2.
Using Map 19.3 (European Claims in North America Before and After the Seven Years’ War
[1756–1763]) as a reference, answer the following questions.
a.
What advantages allowed Britain to defeat France in the Seven Years’ War?
b.
How did the war affect the patterns of Atlantic trade?
c.
What new challenges did Britain face as a result of its expanded North American Empire?
AUDIOVISUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
The Agrarian Revolution. Parts I and II. (28 min. each. Color. Films, Inc.)
2.
Tom Jones. (100 min. Color. Films, Inc.)
3.
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders. (102 min. Color. Films, Inc.)
4.
Colonial Expansion of European Nations. (15 min. Color. Coronet Films.)
5.
The Slave Trade Begins. (30 min. B/W. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.)
6.
The Inventory. (Videodisc. 28 min. Color. Films for the Humanities and Sciences.)
7.
From Waalstraat to Wall Street. (Videodisc. 50 min. Color. Films for the Humanities and
Sciences.)
8.
Archive of the New World. (Videodisc. 18 min. Color. Films for the Humanities and Sciences.)
9.
Amistad. (DVD, 1997.)
10. The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Visual Record (hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery)
INTERNET RESOURCES
1.
Industrial Revolution: Primary Sources
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook14.html)
2.
Colonial Latin America: Primary Sources
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook08.html)
3.
Agricultural Revolution in England
(http://www.bbc.net.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/agricultural_revolution_01.shtml )
4.
The Navigation Acts (http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/book/chap10_6.html)
5.
Declaring Independence: Drafting the Documents (www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/declara1.html)
SUGGESTED READING
The work by Slicher van Bath listed in the Notes is a wide-ranging general introduction to the
transformation of European agriculture. J. de Vries, The Dutch Rural Economy in the Golden Age,
1500–1700 (1974), examines the causes of early Dutch leadership in farming, while J. de Vries and A.
van der Woude, The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch
Economy, 1500–1815 (1997), is a masterful extension of that investigation. M. Overton, Agricultural
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Chapter 19: The Expansion of Europe in the Eighteenth Century
141
Revolution in England (1996), charts the path of agricultural progress in England. J. Allen, Enclosure
and the Yeoman (1992) provocatively challenges the notion that enclosure contributed to growth in
agricultural production, while L. Vardi, The Land and the Loom: Peasants and Profit in Northern
France, 1680-1800 (1993) argues that peasants were active participants in market activity, not its
victims.
Important studies on population and disease include M. Oldstone, Viruses, Plagues, and History (1998),
and C. Cipolla, Miasmas and Disease: Public Health and Environment in the Pre-Industrial Age
(1992). R. Allen et al. eds., Living Standards in the Past: New Perspectives on Well-Being in Asia and
Europe (2004) and T. Bengtsson et al., eds. Life under Pressure: Morality and Living Standards in
Europe and Asia, 1700–1900 (2005) both offer rich comparative perspectives on demographic trends
and living standards among common people. O. Hufton deals vividly and sympathetically with rural
migration, work, and women in The Poor in Eighteenth-Century France (1974).
S. Ogilvie and M. Cerman, eds., European Proto-Industrialization (1996) and M. Prak, ed. Early
Modern Capitalism: Economic and social change in Europe, 1400-1800 (2001) are up-to-date surveys
of several countries by leading scholars. An ambitious re-examination with extensive bibliographical
references, M. Gutman, Toward the Modern Economy: Early Modern Industry in Europe, 1500–1800
(1988), highlights the creativity of rural industry. G. Gullickson, Spinners and Weavers of Auffay:
Rural Industry and the Sexual Division of Labor in a French Village, 1750–1850 (1986) examines
women’s labor in cottage industry, while J. Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300–1914(2000) provides an
overview of guilds and artisanal labor. C. Crowston, Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old
Regime France, 1675–1791 (2001) offers a case study of an all-female guild.
In the area of trade and colonial competition, see V. Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam (1963), and C.
R. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire (1970), R. Herr, The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain
(1958), and J. Brewer, The Sinews of Power: War, Money, and the English State, 1688–1783 (1989). D.
Ormrod, The Rise of Commercial Empires: England and the Netherlands in the Age of Mercantilism,
1650–1770 (2003), examines the battle for supremacy in the North Sea. D. K. Fieldhouse, The Colonial
Empires (1971), and R. Davies, The Rise of Atlantic Economies (1973), are valuable works on the
struggle for empire. For slavery, see H. Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade (1999), an excellent short
synthesis, and P. Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery from the Baroque to the Modern, 1492–
1800 (1997), a very impressive study. R. Harms, The Diligent: A Voyage Through the Worlds of the
Slave Trade (2002), is the deeply moving history of a French slave ship and its victims. Inikori, cited in
the Notes, shows the tremendous contribution of Africans to the Atlantic economy. C. Midgley, Women
Against Slavery: The British Campaigns, 1780–1870 (1992), examines women abolitionists in Britain.
H. Liebersohn, The Traveler’s World: Europe to the Pacific (2006) recounts European explorations and
imaginations of the Pacific.
E. Rothschild, Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment (2001), is a
fascinating reconsideration of Smith and early liberalism. R. Porter, London: A Social History (1994), is
a sparkling combination of fine scholarship and exciting popular history. J. Summerson, Georgian
London, rev. ed. (2003), is a classic architectural study with intriguing illustrations.
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