HIST363 Study Guide


Unit 3: Capitalism, Agriculture, and Industry

3a. Assess the effects of the Agricultural Revolution on European societies

  • What accounted for agricultural improvements in England from 1500–1850?
  • Define cottage industry and proto-industry.
  • How was the factory system fundamentally different from the commercial production methods that preceded it?
  • What were the inventions of Jethro Tull, Joseph Fojambe, Andrew Meikle, and John Fowler?
  • How did industrialization contribute to urbanization in England and Europe during the Industrial Revolution?
  • What was the Columbian Exchange and what impacts did it have on the New World and the Old World (Eurasia)?

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 which would plant seeds efficiently in neat rows and later developed a horse-drawn hoe. In 1730 Joseph Foljambe produced the first commercially-successful iron plough to replace its wooden predecessor. In 1786 Andrew Meikle developed a threshing machine to remove the outer husks from grains of wheat. In the mid 1800s John Fowler produced a steam-driven engine that could plough farmland and dig drainage ditches more quickly and more economically than horse-drawn ploughs.

While domestic and cottage industries helped European workers transition from an agricultural to an industrialized society, factory production came to dominate the economic landscape.

Proto-industry describes this type of domestic manufacturing and other types of commercial activity that preceded industrialization. Later these newly-unemployed agricultural workers would flock to the urban centers where they would form Britain's new industrial workforce.

Meanwhile, the Columbian Exchange provided a new basis for new agricultural production, as new types of 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 a vital means of sustenance for the lower classes across Europe.

Review this material in:


3b. Explain the development of manufacturing in Europe and its effects on Asian industries

  • Discuss the relationship between a cottage industry or domestic system and the factory system in England. In what ways were they complementary and in what ways were they incompatible?
  • How did the industrialization of the textile industry in England impact the Indian textile industry and Indian industrialization? What impact did it have on British and French domestic weavers and their families?

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 craftsmen, domestic weaving and cottage industry, particularly in the textile industry. These processes coexisted and complemented each other until full-scale industrialization rendered domestic weavers and cottage industry obsolete. English textile manufacturing, in addition to laws that restricted the importation of Indian cotton, helped impede the Indian textile industry. Indian weavers, textile production, and industrialization in India 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 that had long existed in all three countries.

Review this material in Cottage Industry and the Factory System by Duncan Blythel and Connections by Louise Tilly.


3c. Describe how slave labor from Africa and natural resources from the Americas assisted industrial development in England

  • What role did slavery play in England's industrial revolution?
  • How did the industrial capitalism of England during the Industrial Revolution rely on natural resources and human capital, in the form of African slaves, for its development and growth?

While England's industrial revolution was based on agricultural consolidation, mechanization, a large supply of coal and iron ore, and water power, we cannot ignore the fact that slave labor 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 its slaves 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.

Review this material in The Atlantic World Slave Economy by Joseph Inikori and Enslavement and Industrialization by Robin Blackburn.


Unit 3 Vocabulary

  • Agrarian revolution
  • Andrew Meikle
  • Atlantic world
  • Domestic system
  • Columbian Exchange
  • Commercial capitalism
  • Cottage industry
  • Dutch East India Company
  • Factory system
  • Industrial capitalism
  • John Fowler
  • Jethro Tull
  • Joseph Foljambe
  • New World
  • Old World
  • Proto-industry
  • Slavery