Unit 2: Ancient and Early Modern Industry
Industry did not begin with the Industrial Revolution. Ancient societies produced consumer goods on a large scale, serving markets that spread over hundreds or even thousands of miles. In ancient Rome, India, and China, large populations, centralized governments, and well-connected international trading routes created vast markets for goods from military and agricultural equipment to textiles and home décor. Entrepreneurs seeking to profit from these markets developed new techniques and tools for mass production that laid the groundwork for future industrial advances. Many of these technological advances fell into disuse during the medieval period, but entrepreneurs continued to develop new commercial practices to organize and finance large-scale businesses.
In this unit, we examine several important industries that developed in the ancient world, such as mining, metallurgy, and textiles. We will then see how merchant entrepreneurs developed the tools and institutions that led to capitalism.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.
Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- explain the impact of agriculture on industrialization;
- describe important industries in China, India, and the Roman Empire;
- examine the different forms of industry in early Modern Europe;
- discuss how early merchant capitalism spread more than just goods across the world;
- examine the role of religion in global economics; and
- explain how early forms of capitalism developed in Europe.
2.1: Applying Industry to Agriculture
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.
Watch these two lectures, which provide a general overview of agricultural change in China. Chinese farmers invented a wide range of devices to increase farms' yield and save labor. Many of these practices were diffused to other parts of the world, especially Europe.
2.2: Ancient Industrial Production
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.
Read this article about Roman mining to learn how ancient Romans solved its technical problems. They even had mechanical devices for removing modest amounts of water from mineshafts.
Read this article about the history and evolution of Roman glass production. The manufacture of glassware was known throughout the ancient world, but Roman artisans produced glass on an unprecedented scale. During the first century BCE, the invention of glassblowing allowed artisans to quickly create glass products in a wide range of shapes, bringing cheap glass to mass markets.
Read this article to learn about the origins of China's great inventions, which include the compass, gunpowder, paper, and printing. After reading about China's role in inventing each of these, feel free to search for articles about each specific invention for more history of the use and development of these tools.
Read this article to learn about the origins of bronze and copper metallurgy in ancient China. After a significant period of stability, the Chinese began to replace its older production methods to produce bronze on an industrial scale.
2.3: Early Merchant Capitalism
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.
Watch this video about the creation of trade networks. "New trade networks caused an explosion in the trade of goods, but also of ideas, technologies, and diseases".
Read this chapter, which covers the massive shift to European society brought on by the change in the basis of wealth and power from land ownership to capital, with the rise of a "merchant class".
Watch this video about how English merchants came to power, propelled by the English wool trade. "By the 14th century, these merchants organized into a guild that gave them more power and privileges in English society".
Watch this video about how traders kept the Silk Road trade route alive. Other empires and regional powers also provided some stability for the roughly four centuries between the Han and Tang dynasties.
Read this article about the history of the Dutch East India Company, from start to finish. Of particular interest is the significant impact this one company had on all of Europe for nearly 200 years.
Unit 2 Assessment
- Receive a grade
Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.
- This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
- You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
- You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.