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Chapter 17 The Expansion of Europe

Terms in this set (57)

80%
Percentage of people in western Europe who drew their livelihood from agriculture (excluding England and the Dutch Republic)
open-field system
pattern of farming that had developed in the Middle Ages. Land to be cultivated was divided into several large fields, which were in turn cut up into long, narrow strips. The fields were open, and the strips were not enclosed into small plots by fences or hedges. The whole peasant village followed the same pattern of plowing, sowing, and harvesting.
soil exhaustion
the ever-present problem with the open-filed system. Depleted nitrogen in the soil. Required land to lie fallow so that clover and other annual grasses could restore nutrients to the soil
three-year system
an improvement from the every other year the field lies fallow. First year= wheat or rye, Second year= oats or beans, Third year= fallow. 2/3 years cash crops
Traditional village rights
reinforced communal patterns of farming. Crops rotated in a uniform way, open meadows for hay and natural pasture, no ownership of surrounding woodlands which provided essential firewood, building materials, and nutritional roots and berries.
gleaning of grain
process by which poor women would go through the fields picking up the few single grains that had fallen to the ground during harvest
crop rotation
developed first by the Dutch and then the English. Secret to eliminating the years of fallow was to alternate grain which crops that return nutrients to the soil, such as peas and beans, root crops such as turnips and potatoes, and clover and other grasses.
Potatoes
root vegetable that reached Europe through the Columbian exchange, at first seen as only fit for animal feed, bur eventually made its way to the human table.
Advocates of the new crop rotation
experimental scientists, some government officials, and a few big landowners. Believed new methods were impossible within the traditional framework of open fields and common rights.
enclosure
The movement to fence in fields in order to farm more effectively, at the expense of poor peasants who relied on common fields for farming and pasture.
Opposition to enclosure
small landowners and the village poor allied with noble landowners who were wary of enclosure because it required large investments in purchasing and fencing land
Dutch Republic
pioneered advancements in agriculture, highly specialized and commercialized, especially in Holland. Their dense population forced them to seek maximum yields and increase cultivated area by draining marshes and swamps. The growth of towns and cities provided peasants with markets for all they could produce and allowed each region to specialize in what it did best.
England
studied and copied Dutch agricultural advances, used the system of continuous crop rotation and drainage/water control to satisfy a rapidly growing population
Cornelius Vermuyden
famous Dutch engineer who directed large drainage projects in Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire, reclaiming over 40,000 acres.
Jethro Tull
English innovator and son of the Enlightenment, adopted a critical attitude towards farming and tried to develop better methods through empirical research. Wanted to use horses, rather than slow-moving oxen, for plowing. Advocated sowing seed with drilling equipment rather than by hand- distributed seed in an even manner and at the proper depth. Improvements in livestock such as selective breeding
enclosure in England
bitterly contested, more than half the farmland in England was enclosed prior to 1700 through private investors. Parliament completed this work in the 18th century through a series of acts
Arthur Young
English agricultural experimentalist who celebrated large-scale enclosure as a necessary means to achieve progress. May people followed him, yet many simply adopted crop rotation and other innovations without enclosures, suggesting the system was not a prerequisite for increased production. His critics emphasized the upheaval caused by enclosure.
rise of market-oriented estate agriculture and the emergence of a landless rural proletariat
the two major historical developments in England. Small landowner was deprived of his land and improvements in technology meant fewer laborers were needed to work large farms and unemployment spread throughout the country
proletarianization
the transformation of large numbers of small peasant farmers into landless rural wage earners. Seen most drastically in England
long-standing obstacles to population growth
before 1700 the population of Europe grew very slowly and followed an irregular cyclical pattern. The Black Death caused a sharp drop in population and food prices and created a labor shortage. After recovering to pre-plague population urban settlements grew significantly and then was less food person and food prices rose more rapidly than wages (situation worsened by the influx of precious metals from the Americas. Poverty became widespread. The population grew moderately at about 1% in normal years, but in years of crisis (famine, epidemic disease, and war) many more people died than were born. The indirect effects of war had a worse effect than the purposeful killing.
What caused population growth?
(1) women had more children because there were new opportunities for employment in rural industry (2) decline in morality- (3) disappearance of the bubonic plague (4) improvements in the water supply and sewage which were advocated by absolutist monarchs and helped to reduce diseases such as typhoid and typhus. Improvements in water supply and drainage of swamps reduced the insect population (5) improvements in transportation- canals and roads lessened the effects of local crop failure and famine because emergency supplies could be brought in (6) wars because less destructive and spread fewer epidemics (7) advances in agricultural production- more food and new foods from the Americas
Marseilles
In 1720 a ship from Syria and the Levant brought the bubonic plague to this city. By 1722 the epidemic had passed and that was the last time the plague fell on western and central Europe
inoculation of smallpox
great improvement in medical knowledge that was mostly confined to England and probably did little to reduce deaths throughout Europe until later.
cottage industry
A stage of industrial development in which rural workers used hand tools in their homes to manufacture goods on a large scale for sale in a market. The workers were paid by the piece and the merchant sold the finished product to regional, national, or even international markets.
putting-out system
The 18th century system of rural industry in which a merchant loaned raw materials to cottage workers, who processed them and returned the finished products to the merchant, many variations on this process. Advantages: rural workers would work for low wages, production in the countryside was unregulated. Workers did not have to meet rigid guild standards so they could produce many different kinds of goods (textiles, flatware, housewares, buttons, clocks, etc.)
production in stages
merchant sent raw materials to one group that would complete one stage of production, then pass it to the next, then the next, etc. until a finished product was made
textiles
the industry that employed the most people in Europe. Handloom was a family enterprise. Operating the loom was generally a man's job, the wife and children would prepare warp threads, thread bobbins for the weft or operate the warp frame while the father passed the shuttle. The work of 4 or 5 spinners was needed to keep one weaver steadily employed
John Kay
invented the flying shuttle, which enabled the weaver to throw the shuttle back and forth between the threads with one hand
spinsters
In England, many widows and single women took on spinning in their spare time and were called this synonym for an unmarried women
relationship between workers and merchants
marked by sharp conflict. merchants accused employees of stealing raw materials, laziness, drunkenness, and immorality and struggled to control their scattered work force that changed with the seasons. They believed that workers who produced little had little incentive to work and thus wages should be lower. They also obtained new police powers over workers and could punish them with imprisonment and public whipping. Workers faced a constant struggle with poverty and accused merchants of delivering underweight bales. Women had it especially rough, getting paid sometimes only a quarter as much as men for the same work.
industrious revolution
The shift that occurred as families in northwestern Europe focused on earning wages instead of producing goods for household consumption; this reduced their economic self-sufficiency but increased their ability to purchase consumer goods.
changing roles of women
almost always worked at menial, tedious jobs for very low wages. Yet, took on a greater role in household decision making. Women's use of their surplus income helped spur the growth of textiles industries.
guild system
The organization of artisanal production into trade-based associations, or guilds, each of which received a monopoly over its trade and the right to train apprentices and hire workers. They had specific privileges such as access to restricted markets in raw materials. Peak in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as in Louis XIV's France where Jean-Bapiste Colbert encouraged the formation of guilds to promote high-quality production and to collect taxes. This system was eventually undermined by the growth of cottage industry.
restricted guild membership
only local men, who were good Christians, had several years experience, paid stiff membership fees, and completed a masterpiece. Master's sons had automatic access. Most women, day laborers, Jews, and foreigners were excluded from guilds.
Adam Smith
one of the most famous critics of government regulation of trade and industry and leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment. Wrote the "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (1776) and developed the general idea of free enterprise and established the basis for modern economics. He criticized guilds for their stifling and outmoded restrictions. Believed free competition would best protect consumers from price gouging and give all citizens a fair and equal right to do what they did best. Advocated "division of labor" to increase efficiency. Thought the government should have only 3 duties: protect against foreign invasion, maintain civil order with courts and police, and sponsor institutions that could never profit from private investors. He applauded the modest rise in wages of British worker and called for government intervention to raise worker's living standards. Declared that the 2 greatest and most important events in human history were "the discovery of America and that of a passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope
economic liberalism
A belief, first introduced by Adam Smith, in free trade and competition based on the argument that the invisible hand of free competition would benefit all individuals, rich and poor.
Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot
reform-minded economics minister that issued a law abolishing all French guilds in 1776. Vociferous protests against this measure led to his disgrace shortly afterward, but the legislators of the French Revolution disbanded the guilds again in 1791 and other European countries followed suit, slowly.
Great Britain
formed 1707 by the union of England and Scotland into a single kingdom, gradually became the leading maritime power.
mercantilism
a system of economic regulations aimed at increasing the power of the state, particularly at creating a favorable balance of trade in order to increase a country's stock in gold.
Navigation Acts
a series of English mercantilist laws that controlled the import of goods to Britain and the British colonies. Oliver Cromwell established the first of these laws in 1651 and the restored monarchy of Charles II extended them in 1660 and 1663. The acts required that goods imported from Europe into England and Scotland be carried on British ships with British crews or on ships of the country producing the article. These laws gave British merchants and shipowners a virtual monopoly on trade with British colonies. It was thought that this measures would benefit colonial plantation owners as well ad that an emerging British Empire would develop a shipping industry with many experienced seamen who could serve in the navy when necessary. They were a form of economic warfare, first aimed at the Dutch. They severely damaged Dutch shipping and commerce, taking colony of New Amsterdam in 1664 and renaming it New York. France was the second target.
Anglo-French conflicts
War of Spanish Succession- Louis XIV accepted Spanish Crown willed to his grandson, he was defeated by a great coalition of states and forced into the Peace of Utrecht- gave Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Hudson Bay to British, who also gained control of the Spanish West African slave trade (asiento)

War of Austrian Succession- started when Frederick the Great seized Silesia from Maria Theresa, gradually became a world war that including Anglo-French fighting in India and North America. Ended in no change of territory in North America. Set the stage for...

Seven Years' War- France aided Austria to win back Silesia from Prussia who allied with Britain, in North America French and British settlers engaged in war that drew Native American allies on both sides. By 1763 Prussia held off Austria and British victory on all colonial fronts was ratified in the Treaty of Paris
asiento
the Spanish controlled West African slave trade which was ceded to the British in the Peace of Utrecht after the War of Spanish Succession
triangle trade
three way transfer of goods in the Atlantic Ocean: European commodities like guns and textiles to Africa, enslaved Africans to colonies, and colonial goods such as cotton, tobacco, and sugar back to Europe. It oversimplifies the systems of trade established at this time, however. There was also intercolonial trade, and many colonial merchants violated imperial monopolies to trade with the most profitable partners, regardless of nationality. Atlantic trade was linked with trading in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
mercantilism success for England
England relied on colonial exports. Sales to mainland colonies of North America and the West Indian sugar islands soared. Exports to Ireland and India also rose. Colonial monopolies allowed English to obtain a steady supply of goods at beneficial prices and to re-export them to other nations at high profits. Processing of many colonial goods such as sugar and tobacco created new manufacturing jobs in England and London grew to the West's largest and richest city.
three major players in Atlantic economy
England, France, and Spain
Saint-Domingue
plantation agriculture and slave trading thrived in this French colony, became leading producer of coffee and sugar
Spanish influence in the New World
gained Louisiana from France in 1763, influence expanded all the way to northern California due to the work of Spanish missionaries and ranchers. Recovery of silver production.
debt peonage
a form of serfdom developed by wealthy Spanish landowners in the Americas that allowed a planter or rancher to keep his workers or slaves in perpetual debt bondage by periodically advancing food, shelter, and a little money.
Atlantic slave trade
The forced migration of Africans across the Atlantic for slave labor on plantations and in other industries; the trade reached its peak in the 18th century and ultimately involved 12.5 million Africans, 6.5 million of which were purchased between 1701-1800. Its rise was a result of the rise in plantation agriculture. Britain became the undisputed leader in shipping slaves across the Atlantic. Considered a legitimate business until the 18th century when a mass abolition campaign began, led by women. Parliament abolished the British slave trade in 1807, although slavery continued in the colonies and the Americas for decades.
Brazil
European colony that imported the most slaves by far- 45% of the total
3%
Percentage of enslaved Africans sent to North American colonies, relied mostly on natural growth of the slave population
shore method
a technique of trading used in the Atlantic slave trade which was less expensive than maintaining fortified trading posts. European ships sent boats ashore or invited African dealers to bring traders and slaves out to their ships. Allowed ships so move more quickly and easily along the coast from market to market
Effects of the Slave Trade on Africans
some profited from the greater demand for slaves and were able to buy European commercialized goods such as firearms. Generally, the effects were negative. Wars between African states increased to obtain captives to sell, and leaders used profits to purchase more arms than textiles ans consumer goods. The population stagnated or even declined.
Creole
people of Spanish ancestry born in the Americas. Prided themselves on following European ways of life, but over time began to feel their circumstances gave them different interests and characteristics from their European mothers. They increasingly came to resent the regulations and taxes imposed by colonial bureaucrats.
mixed-race populations
disproportionately male migrants led to unions with Native or African women, leading to sizable population of mixed-race. The mixed-race descendants of Spanish conquistadors were among the most powerful in all of Spanish America
freeing mixed-race children
In Spanish and French Caribbean and Brazil, masters typically freed their mixed-race children, leading to large populations of free people of color, while in British colonies
backlash from white inhabitants
In Saint-Domingue
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