• The 18th century marked a period of growth, expansion, and transformation in agriculture, trade, commerce, and industry in Europe.
• Population growth reached unprecedented levels.
• Mercantilism intensified competition among European states.
• Governments actively promoted agriculture, industries, and commerce.
• Industrialization gained momentum, with England leading the way toward the Industrial Revolution.
• Rapid industrialization reshaped the economic and political relationships between industrialized Europe and non-industrial regions in Asia, Africa, and South America.
• Britain emerged as the first and most industrialized nation, becoming the dominant imperial power until other European nations caught up in the late 19th century.

Demographic Growth

• Demographic growth in Europe began around 1730 after a period of stagnation.
• Western Europe, including England, Scotland, Ireland, and France, experienced significant population growth during the 18th century.
• In England, the population rose from about 5 million in 1700 to over 9 million in 1801.
• France’s population increased from about 16 million in 1715 to approximately 26 million by 1789.
• The overall population growth varied across regions, with the most significant gains in frontier regions that had suffered from earlier wars.
• Russia experienced a similar population growth, but in the 19th century.
• Spain’s population grew from around 7 to 10 million during the 18th century.
• Prussia’s population rose from approximately 1.7 to 3.1 million.
• Germany saw population growth from around 10 million in 1650 to about 17 million by 1750, though figures may not be very reliable.
• The number of towns increased significantly during this period, with the Low Countries having a high degree of urbanization.
• Population growth was attributed to a reduction in the death rate due to advances in modern science, as well as the expansion of food production and the growth of the industrial sector.
• Two types of population control were identified: ‘positive’ controls, such as epidemics, famines, and wars, and ‘preventive’ controls, where reduced birth rates occurred within marriage or through delayed marriage due to economic factors like falling real wages.
• Economic expansion led to urbanization and increased demand for manufactured goods.

Agriculture

• Agricultural expansion played a significant role in fostering industrial growth.
• It generated wealth that could be invested in industry and infrastructure development.
• Wealth accumulated in the hands of the landed class, creating demand for manufactured goods.
• Wealthy agriculturists invested in improving agriculture with better seeds, fertilizers, canals, roads, and new cultivation methods.
• Efficient cultivation methods increased food production, while the growing population supplied labor for urban factories and the mining sector.

Agriculture in Britain

• The English Revolution in the mid-seventeenth century marked the transition to capitalist agriculture.
• It promoted a rational and scientific approach to agrarian issues and led to organizational and technological changes.
• By the first half of the eighteenth century, English agriculture had transformed.
• Despite the decline in the proportion of the population engaged in agriculture (from 80% in 1700 to 40% in 1800), it continued to feed the growing population.
• Agriculture was indispensable for the foundation of the industrial sector and dominated British politics due to the power of the “landed interest.”
• The British agrarian revolution had four key features: large consolidated farming units, arable farming expansion over heaths and commons, a shift from self-sufficient peasants to market-dependent laborers, and increased agricultural productivity.
• The English ruling class efficiently exploited the peasantry and implemented enclosures to dispossess them.
• Technological innovations, including inventions by Jethro Tull, improvements in breeding by Robert Bakewell, and scientific farming popularized by Arthur Young, contributed to increased agricultural productivity.
• The enclosure movement was a significant aspect of agrarian change in England, with variations in cultivation systems based on factors like soil quality and distance from marketing centers.