• Unit 3: Capitalism, Agriculture, Industry, and Trade

    Capitalism, an economic system based on the private ownership of productive power, made the Industrial Revolution possible by creating demands for goods and incentives for entrepreneurs to invest in production. Capitalism had its origins in merchant activity, but by the 17th and 18th centuries, it began to penetrate traditional agricultural and industrial sectors. New crops from the Americas and new ideas about agricultural production led to an Agricultural Revolution in Europe, resulting in growing populations and the creation of new wealth among landowners. Capitalism matured as an economic system in the Atlantic World. Investors used capital to buy land in the Americas and captive labor from Africa to produce consumer goods like tobacco, sugar, and cotton for growing world markets. Throughout the period, capitalist merchants tapped existing handicraft producers of manufactured goods, using saved capital to finance industrial production on a growing scale.

    In this unit, we analyze the effect of the Agricultural Revolution on Europe and see how it encouraged the growth of capitalism in Europe, across the Atlantic, and around the world.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hour.

    • 3.1: The Agricultural Revolution in Europe

      Several factors prompted the Industrial Revolution in England and Europe. As we discussed in Unit 1, in England, the ready availability of waterpower, sources of iron ore, an abundant coal supply, and raw materials from colonies such as India created a foundation for an industrial revolution.

      An agricultural revolution of sorts had preceded these changes: new farming tools and mechanization methods made it easier for farmers to produce more food with less labor.

      For example, in 1701, Jethro Tull invented the seed drill to plant seeds efficiently in neat rows and later developed a horse-drawn hoe. In 1730, Joseph Foljambe produced the first commercially-successful iron plow to replace its wooden predecessor. In 1786, Andrew Meikle developed a threshing machine to remove the outer husks from wheat grains. In the mid-1800s, John Fowler produced a steam-driven engine that could plow farmland and dig drainage ditches more quickly and economically than the horse-drawn plow.

    • 3.2: Cottage Industry and Handicraft Production

      New technology was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, coupled with access to natural resources such as coal, iron ore, and water power. However, while technology dramatically improved the production of goods such as cotton fabric, it did not fully replace the domestic system or artisan handcrafting overnight. For some time, they coexisted and complemented each other.

      The industrialization of textile manufacturing supplanted artisanal production, a process characterized by minimal automation, little division of labor, and a small number of highly-skilled artisans, particularly in the textile industry. These processes coexisted and complemented one another until full-scale industrialization rendered domestic weavers and cottage industry obsolete. In addition to laws that restricted the importation of Indian cotton, English textile manufacturing helped impede the Indian textile industry. Indian weavers, textile production, and industrialization suffered and forced the country to rely on its agricultural economy until recently.

      Traditional cottage industries, which had endured for centuries in England, France, and India, were soon replaced by the mass production of cheap and affordable cotton fabric. Industrialization fueled a revolution that changed social and economic patterns in all three countries.

    • 3.3: The Columbian Exchange

      The Columbian Exchange provided a new basis for new agricultural production, as new crops from the New World came to supplement the European diet, such as potatoes, corn, tobacco, beans, squash, peppers, and cacao. For example, potatoes became vital sustenance for the lower classes across Europe. We will consider the social impact of the wealth from industry and global trade in Unit 5.

    • 3.4: The Atlantic Slave Trade: "Free" Labor from Africa

      While England's industrial revolution was based on agricultural consolidation, mechanization, an ample supply of coal and iron ore, and water power, we cannot ignore that enslaved people from Africa provided the back-breaking labor that harvested the necessary natural resources and raw materials in its colonies.

      For example, the sugar industry, which required intensive labor, which enslaved people provided, reaped huge profits for its owners and investors back in England. This capital provided the basis for the money needed to invest in factories and industrial production for the newly-developing mass consumer market.

    • 3.5: Proto-Industrialization and Trade in Qing China

      The Qing dynasty represented a time of significant economic growth, trade, and agricultural reform, among other things. At the time, China was the most desirable trade destination of the global economy and arguably the most important. It was also a time of great self-sufficiency, hastening the monetization of trade, as the Qing emperor was primarily interested in trading for silver.

    • 3.6: The Opium Wars and Western Imperialism

      The so-called period of New Imperialism during the late 1800s and early 1900s represented a second wave of European expansion and colonialism, joined by the United States and the newly industrialized country of Japan. This period began with the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, where the European powers defined their spheres of influence by carving up Africa and parts of Asia. It reflected a new rivalry among the European powers who sought new supplies of natural resources, commercial markets, and military outposts. It also reflected a belief in the "civilizing ethos" which Rudyard Kipling expressed in his poem, "The White Man's Burden".

    • Unit 3 Assessment

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