DAY 3, UNIT 7 Economic Expansion and Social Change Europes population began to grow around 1750 and slowly

rose. In 1700, there about 120mil, 1750 was 140mil, and 1790 190mil. Russias population doubled because of its expansion. These increases were caused by colonial expansion. More food and the better transportation of food supplies led to improved diets and relief for families. Although there was great nutrition, diseases such as typhus, smallpox, influenza, and dysentery were common. Families were still on the traditional terms with the husband dominating the family. Parents often decided who their children would marry as well. The 18th century also had better attitudes towards children. Lower-class women breast-fed their children. There were also taboos about women having another child while with an infant. Lower-class women served as wet-nurses for other higher-ranked children. Urban mothers, the wives of aristocrats, for economic reasons sent their babies to wet nurses in the countryside. The impact of the Enlightenment though led to an increase in survival rates of more infants. Childhood was more viewed as a phase in human development. Primogeniture, the practice of treating the first son as the favorite was also attacked. In England, games and toys for children had appeared. Jigsaw puzzles appeared in the 1760s and books such as Little Pretty PocketBook (1744) aimed to please and also teach children. For most Europeans however, children were still a source of considerable anxiety. They represented a health risk to their mothers. In 1784, a law in Austria forbade parents to place children under five years old in bed with them. The largest hospital of adoption was found in Russia, founded by nobility. Newly marriage couples established their own independent households. This nuclear family had become a common patter especially in northwestern Europe. Now, both men and women married late (men 27-28; women 25-27). These late marriage were viewed as a natural form of birth control. For married couple, the first child appeared within a year of marriage and other came within intervals of 2-3 years producing an average of 5 births per family. By the end of the 18th century, birth limiting techniques in Britain and France limited the number of children allowed. Working conditions of both women and children were cruel. In rural areas, children worked on land while women grew vegetables, tended livestock, and sold food. Lower-class women often had worse jobs as well as their husbands. An increased food production in the 18th century led to an agricultural revolution. The amount of land under cultivation was increased by abandoning the old open-field system.

The empty fields were now planted with new crops. New crops which stored nitrogen in their roots allowed for winter-growth. The more numerous livestock increased the amount of meat and led to better fertilization of fields. Jethro Tull (1674-1741, England) discovered using a hoe to keep the soil loose allowed air and moisture to reach plants which furthered growth. The importation of American crops also led to greater variety. Corn and potatoes were grown widely in the Low Countries and others as well. New agricultural techniques as well as a change in landholding led to an increase in food production. In England, enclosure acts led to larger estates and many farmers were forced to work under large fields. This early modernization of English agriculture made possible the feeding of an expanding people. Financial Improvements: New public and private banks and the acceptance of paper notes made possible the expansion of credit in the 18th century. In the Bank of England in 1694, loans were introduced. In return for lending money, the bank was allowed to issue paper notes backed up by credit. Paper became a substitute for gold and silver currency. This process meant that capital for financing larger armies and other government undertaking could be raised in much greater quantities. The French company under John Law was also tied to an attempt to create a national banks and paper currency. Laws company went bankrupt leading to a loss of confidence for paper money. The British however, began to borrow large sums of money at low interest rates, providing benefits against the French. Despite its large growth, the English were succeeded by the Dutch. Industry: The most important products became textiles. Woolen cloth made up most of the exports. Most textiles were still produced by regular methods in which textile centers created their works. In the countryside, textile were made by a domestic system, in which a merchant-capitalist entrepreneur brought the raw materials, mostly wool and flax and they would then be spun into yarn and later woven into cloth. The entrepreneurs sold the finished products, profited, and manufactured more. This system became known as the cottage industry because workers often worked in their own cottages. The importation of raw cotton from slave planation encouraged the production of cotton cloth in Europe. The flying shuttle sped up the process of weaving on a loom which increased needed quantities of yarn. Richard Arkwright (1732-1792) invented a water frame which turned the yarn out faster than the spinning wheels. The abundance of yarn led to mechanized looms in the 1780s.