HIST363: Global Perspectives on Industrialization

Industrialized agriculture is not a new phenomenon. While machines and technology enable today's large-scale agricultural production, this type of farming is not new. Genetic "engineering" of agricultural products through breeding and propagation is thousands of years old. For our purposes, we are considering early industry, which was primarily driven by the agricultural products of their day.

While modern industrial production methods and practices may not have been fully developed in pre-Modern China, India, and the Roman Empire, this does not mean that some form of industrial production did not exist. Roman mining and glassware were highly-developed industries that required technological applications to be successful. Roman glassmaking was highly developed, prized, and found as far away as China and Japan.

China perfected bronze metallurgy and bronze production for domestic and military use, and had a highly-advanced industrial process with an early version of the assembly line. In India, cotton production was in existence long before the British arrived and exploited Indian cotton for their own purposes and textile production. Cotton fabric provided an impetus to the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Read this overview of Roman society at its height in the first and second centuries CE.

Following the collapse of Rome, a return to stability during the later Middle Ages (476 AD–1492) led to the revival of European towns and cities and a resumption of trade and commerce. However, the Roman Catholic Church was an omnipresent force and became an impediment to industrial growth. For example, the church limited excessive profit-making by forbidding usury (money lending at high interest rates) and demanded businesses charge their customers a just and fair price.

During the Reformation (1517–1648), a decline in the power of the Catholic Church and the rise of Calvinism eroded the religious dominance that had slowed the rise of the merchant class. Businesses gained the ability to lend money at a market-based interest rate and would charge prices based on supply and demand with less interference from the church. Calvinism supported the idea of predestination – that monetary and business success indicated God's favor – a belief that would encourage entrepreneurism, investment, and personal wealth.

Capitalism and national forms of industry (which we will discuss in more detail in Unit 3) became widespread in Europe. Merchants found new business and trade routes in addition to their local partners. For example, merchant traders from cities along the Baltic coast – northern Germany, Scandinavia, Russia – created the Hanseatic League (1157–1600), a trans-national commercial network, to facilitate trade and shared interests.

Merchants in Amsterdam, Antwerp, London, and Venice also created new business organizations comprised of wealthy investors called joint-stock companies (similar to today's publicly-traded corporations) to finance more expensive trading ventures. These included the long, dangerous voyages to India, Indonesia, and the New World, proving extremely profitable when successful.