Agricultural Revolution (农业革命) Flashcards
What leads to population growth?
New World crops
What are some of the big picture transitions in the 18th century?
Majority farmers → majority factory workers
Poorly used land → efficiently-used land
Basic hand tools → complex machines
Subsistence → surplus (剩余)
Describe the farming in the Medieval (~500-1450) and Early Modern (~1450-1750)
Traditional (not practical 不实用) practices
What are “The Commons”
Open field, used by whoever the Lord says
What is the common way for the poorest to live?
“Gleaning” - harvesting leftover crops
What is “a more communal attitude”? (共同体态度)
Shared labour, division of tax (and some fruits)
What grows in Autumn and Spring (Three-Field Rotation)?
Rye / Wheat, cereals
What grows in Late Summer (Three-Field Rotation)?
Peas, lentils, beans
What grows in Winter (Three-Field Rotation)?
Nothing, unplanted fallow
What are 3 large changes to farming in 18th-century Britain?
- Bigger farms
- Mechanization (new & complex tools)
- Improved techniques
What is Enclosure?
The transfer of common land to legal and physical ownership
What did the “Enclosed land” happen?
Large landowners control the government
“Enclosure Acts”→ fences, walls, hedges
Provide an example of the “Enclosed land”
Highland Clearances (1750-1860)
What impact smaller farms have had on many poor farmers?
Smaller farmers had land taken away by bigger, wealthier farmers (lords)
What are some of the RESULTS of the “Enclosed land”?
- Small farmers pressured to surrender land to bigger landowners
- People work as labourers for landowners
- People move to the cities for work
- Fewer land owners, more concentrated land
