Waiting online~~~An explanation of the terms of the Atlantic trade circle, accurate and concise!!

The Industrial Revolution refers to the early process of capitalist industrialization, that is, the stage in which production completed the transition from factory handicrafts to machine-based large-scale industry. It is a revolution in production and technology that replaces manpower with machines and replaces manual production in individual factories with large-scale factory production. The Industrial Revolution originated in the Midlands of England. In the 1760s, after Watt improved the steam engine, a series of technological revolutions caused a major leap from manual labor to power machine production. It subsequently spread to other parts of Britain and throughout continental Europe, and to North America in the 19th century.

The British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century was the starting point of the world's modernization process. Its ideological origins can be traced back to the European Renaissance from the 14th to 16th centuries. The Renaissance brought a period of scientific and artistic revolution and unveiled the modern world. The beginning of European history. It can be seen from Mike Hart's "List of 100 Celebrities Who Influenced the Course of Human History" that there were only 32 celebrities in the 3000 years before the Renaissance, while there were 68 celebrities after that. During the Renaissance, Europe had a population of 70 to 80 million, while the British Isles had only 4 million. From the beginning of the Renaissance to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, there were only 10 celebrities, all from the European continent, and none of them was from the British Isles. After 1500, the British population increased rapidly. Among the celebrities who subsequently influenced the world, there were 17 British people (such as Newton, the founder of the modern scientific system), 8 people in the United States that became independent from Britain, and France, a traditional European country with the largest population. , Germany, and Italy have only 8, 9, and 3 people respectively. That is to say, the main force of the Industrial Revolution and the modern scientific and technological revolution are mainly the descendants of the 4 million people in Britain in the 16th century (now there are more than 200 million people in Britain).

If China and India did not have an industrial revolution because there was no Renaissance, then what was the reason that caused the industrial revolution to occur in Britain instead of other European countries that also benefited from the spring breeze of the Renaissance? This question fascinates many economists. Yang Xiaokai summarized the views of Simon Johnson and others of MIT in "Why the Industrial Revolution Didn't Happen in Spain". Johnson and others found that the objective conditions for the industrial revolution in Spain and Portugal were far better than those in the United Kingdom:

1. Spain and Portugal mastered relatively early and had relatively excellent navigation technology and experience.

2. Spain and Portugal engaged in maritime trade earlier than Britain, and took the lead in occupying South America, which has better natural conditions than North America, and has better natural resources for international trade.

3. Marx believed that the development of imperialism must use exploitation as a means, but the British governance of the colonies was not aimed at exploiting the colonies to satisfy the motherland, while Spain and Portugal exploited the colonies. Therefore, according to Marx and marginal theory, the development of imperialism in Spain and Portugal should cause the industrial revolution to occur in Spain and Portugal.

But history has it that the Industrial Revolution happened in England and not in Spain. Faced with this historical contradiction, Johnson and others put forward three hypotheses.

1. Atlantic trade has a key impact on Europe’s economic development.

2. The benefits of Atlantic trade can catalyze institutional changes.

3. The prerequisites for system transformation are related to the strength of the autocratic power of the king and the royal family.

Johnson and others discovered that Atlantic trade broke down the barriers of the British social hierarchy. The British had significantly more restrictions on the autocratic royal power than those in Spain and Portugal. The average person could share the benefits of Atlantic trade, and the benefits were not monopolized by the state. . The benefits of Spain's Atlantic trade were monopolized by the Crown. In other words, the British participated in the Atlantic trade voluntarily among the private sector and it was "private" rather than "state-run" funded by the royal family. So the Industrial Revolution took place in England and not in Spain.

Yang Xiaokai said that the current Pacific trade is like the Atlantic trade of the past, and China's Pacific trade has the tendency to "Hispanize" China.

Johnson’s views explain why the Industrial Revolution happened in England rather than Spain, but they cannot explain why it could not happen in France. France is also an active participant in the Atlantic trade, and has directly benefited from these trades. Before the French Revolution, although politics were ruled by men, the economy was free, and "little tax and light corvee" allowed ordinary people to share in the economic benefits. After the French Revolution, France placed even greater restrictions on despotism than did England. According to Johnson and Yang Xiaokai’s views, if the Industrial Revolution could happen in the UK, it would be even more likely to happen in France.

However, in the article "Good Capitalism and Bad Capitalism", Yang Xiaokai believes that France's average tax rate is much lower than that of the UK, and it does not have the ability to carry out large-scale public welfare undertakings. According to this point of view, the Spanish government is more capable than the British government in carrying out large-scale public welfare undertakings, and the industrial revolution should occur in Spain.

Therefore, although Johnson and Yang Xiaokai’s explanation for the Industrial Revolution taking place in Britain has many reasonable elements, it is not sufficient. Because they still adopt a "thing-oriented" thinking to analyze society instead of "people-oriented", they ignore the most active factor among the factors of productivity - people.

In fact, the main reason why the Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain instead of France was population. Britain's special method of population reproduction promoted material reproduction and triggered the industrial revolution.

The European population, like the Chinese population, has fluctuated at a low level for thousands of years. Columbus discovered America in 1492, which allowed the high-yielding crops successfully cultivated by Indians for thousands of years to spread to Eurasia, freeing more people from the land to engage in science and technology, causing the population to increase rapidly and providing intellectual resources for scientific and technological innovation. . The yields of potatoes (still the fourth largest food crop in the world), corn (still the second largest food crop in the world), and sweet potatoes are many times higher than those of traditional wheat, millet, barley, oats, and sorghum in Eurasia. Although the increase in European population was due to the high-yielding crops in the Americas, Britain became the biggest beneficiary due to reasons such as fertility culture.

Potatoes made up for the food shortage caused by insufficient cereal harvests. After the British defeated the Spanish in the Caribbean in 1586, they brought potatoes to Britain from South America. By 1650, potatoes had become Ireland's main food crop, causing the Irish population to increase from 1.1 million in 1672 to 5.2 million in 1801. 8.3 million in 1846. After the British population doubled several times due to high-yield crops in the Americas, the potato was not gradually accepted by the French until the 19th century. People initially believed that it could cause leprosy and even infertility. The great French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885) once called potatoes: "Poor man's truffles."

Population of European countries from 1500 to 2000 (millions)

-------------------------- ---------------

Year---1500-1600--1800--1900--1950--2000

United Kingdom- -----4----6--16.3--41.6--53.0--62.6

France-----16---20--27.5--38.9--41.8 --59.3

Germany-----12---20--29.0--56.4--69.2--82.8

Italy---12---12- -17.2--32.4--46.8--57.6

Spain----6----8--11.0--18.5--27.9--38.4

Portugal- ---1----2---2.9---5.4---8.0--10.0

As can be seen from the above table, the population of France in 1500 was 16 million, and the population of England was about 4 million. 1/4 of France. From 1500 to 1800, the British population increased 4.1 times (the population of London in 1500 was 50,000, which increased to 700,000 in 1700, becoming the world's largest financial and trade center in the 18th and 19th centuries); while France, Germany, and Italy The population increased only 1.7, 2.4, and 1.4 times respectively. The British population was growing rapidly, and many social problems arose (such as food shortages, environmental pollution, increased employment pressure, etc.), which aroused the concern of the 32-year-old unmarried British boy Malthus. In 1798, he published his depressing masterpiece "The Principle of Population" ”, believing that population must be controlled, otherwise war and famine will be faced.

Malthusian theory has no market in Britain, but it is highly respected by the French. Malthus's theory of population caused a great shock in France after it was put forward. In order to avoid the terrible consequences of war and famine described by Malthus, the French actively adopted Malthus's views to control population. According to Sun Yat-sen: "Because the French pay attention to happiness, they very much welcome Ma's theory, which advocates that men should bear the burden of the family and women should not have children. The methods they use to reduce the population not only use these natural methods, but also use many artificial methods to reduce the population. Method. A hundred years ago, France had a larger population than any other country. Because Malthus's theory was very popular after it was spread to France, the people began to reduce the population. So today, the pain of being underpopulated is all because of being cheated. The poison of Malthusian theory. China's current new youth are also infected by Malthusian theory and advocate reducing population. However, France has already understood the pain of reducing population. Now it is implementing new policies to advocate increasing population and preserving the nation, thinking of the French nation. and coexist permanently with the nations of the world.

”

Malthus proposed the theory of population when he was 32 years old. He was not yet married at that time, and he may not have realized the difficulty of raising children. In 1804, Malthus got married, when he was 38 years old, and gave birth to three children at one time. Children. Malthus enjoyed many honors in his later years. He died in Bath, USA, at the age of 68. Probably as Confucius said: "The one who started the work has no descendants."

From 1800 to 2000, the British native population also increased faster than that of continental Europe, and the British immigrant population was far larger than that of France, Germany, and Italy. In 1800, 19% of the 5.3 million people in the United States were black, and 80% were black. They are white. 80% of the white people are from the British Islands, and only 20% are from other European countries (France only accounts for about 2% of the white people). These early immigrants had a head start in reproduction, such as being used as slaves from 1619 to 1808. Only 500,000 black Africans were trafficked to the United States. However, black Americans now account for more than 12% of the total population of 300 million in the United States (there were also black immigrants later, but the number is very small. The vast majority of black people today are still descendants of old immigrants, and the United States The descendants of old black immigrants also immigrated to Canada and other places); the hundreds of Amish who immigrated to the United States around 1725 now have 200,000 descendants. Among the European immigrants who immigrated to the Americas after 1800, the British still rank first. There are far fewer French immigrants than British immigrants. In 2006, the population of the British and Irish provinces was 64.7 million, the United States had a population of 298 million, Canada had a population of 33 million, Australia had a population of 20 million, and New Zealand had a population of 4 million. The descendants of British immigrants account for more than 40% of the population in the United States and Canada, and the descendants of British immigrants account for more than 70% of the populations of Australia and New Zealand. In addition, there are about 1.6 million British descendants in South Africa. So the most conservative estimate is that there are currently 215 million descendants of the British. Even if 10% of the current population in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are French immigrants (only Canada has more than 20%, and other countries are far less than 10%), then the current French population is only 96.4 million. In other words, in the past 500 years, The original 4 million British people increased to 53.5 times (of which the native population increased to 16.2 times), and the original 16 million French people only increased to 6 times (of which the native population increased to 3.8 times). In 1800, the British native population plus immigrants was about 2000. Ten thousand, then from 1800 to 2006, the British population increased to 10.7 times, and the French population only increased to 3.5 times (China's population increased to 3.25 times, largely due to the increase in life expectancy)

18. In the middle of the century, the expansion of European markets, colonial markets, and overseas markets led to great improvements in the cotton textile industry. Water and land transportation was greatly improved, which facilitated the transportation of industrial and agricultural products and raw materials, promoted commercial prosperity, and accumulated funds for industry. The Industrial Revolution required two kinds of people: a large number of scientific and technological innovators who were separated from the land, and a large number of free laborers. Only Britain meets both conditions. Let’s take a look at the situation in Britain at that time:

1. The labor force was separated from the land.

In the 1830s, Viscount C. Townsend (1674-1738) introduced clover and turnip into the fields, changed the three-wheel system to a four-wheel system, and started the agricultural revolution. Agriculturalist R. Bakewell (1725-1795) cultivated the "New Leicester sheep" and pioneered the improvement of livestock. After the Agricultural Revolution, the demand for labor per unit of land decreased. In this case, after the 18th century, the British Parliament passed a large number of laws permitting enclosures, which finally legalized enclosures. For this reason, the number of British farmers was reduced to the lowest number in history, and agriculture was fully integrated into the Capitalist Orbit. In the 1860s before the Industrial Revolution, Britain's agricultural population still accounted for more than 80% of the total population. By the mid-19th century after the Industrial Revolution, Britain's agricultural population dropped sharply to 25% of the total population. On the one hand, the population has increased dramatically, and on the other hand, the demand for land for labor has decreased. This has caused most bankrupt farmers to flow into cities and become wage workers and industrial reserve forces, providing cheap labor for the industrial revolution.

2. Industrial invention.

Textile industry:

In 1733, the watchmaker Kay invented the flying shuttle, which greatly improved the efficiency of weaving.

From 1764 to 1767, textile worker James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, which improved spinning efficiency.

In 1769, the barber Ackley invented the water-powered spinning machine.

In 1779, Crompton, a textile worker who was a child laborer, invented the mule machine by combining the advantages of the two spinning machines, and the back was improved into an automatic cotton spinning machine.

In 1785, Reverend Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom. At that time, the power of textiles relied on water power, which limited the development of industry.

In 1769, instrument repairman James Watt successfully invented the one-way steam engine based on the achievements of his predecessors.

In 1782, a two-way steam engine was built. The emergence of the steam engine promoted the development of the Industrial Revolution.

In 1800, Britain had 321 steam engines with 5,210 horsepower.

In 1825, the number soared to 15,000 units with 375,000 horsepower.

Transportation Innovation

2,200 miles of canals in England from 1759 to 1830.

In 1807, the British-American Fulton invented the steamboat

In 1811, the United Kingdom also began to imitate it.

Stephenson invented the steam locomotive in 1814

It was successfully tested on Britain's first railway in 1825.

In 1844, the length of British railways was 2,235 miles.

Except for Fulton, who is British-American, all the above-mentioned inventors are British.

3. Sufficient labor supply: Due to the rapid increase in population, the UK adds a large number of young labor force every year, continuously meeting the labor demand of the Industrial Revolution.

It can be seen from the above that most of these industrial inventions in Britain were made by young front-line workers. If these people were still making a living on the land, they would not have the opportunity to make inventions. The key to Britain's industrial revolution was the availability of a massive off-land labor force, which was forced out by population pressure.

France’s land area is 1.78 times that of the United Kingdom (including Ireland), its cultivated land area is 2.68 times that of the United Kingdom, but its grassland area is only 69% of that of the United Kingdom. In 1500, Britain's population was only 25% of France's. However, by 1800 during the Industrial Revolution, Britain's population was equivalent to 59% of France's. This means that France's per capita arable land is 1.59 times that of Britain, but its per capita grassland area is only 41% of that of Britain. It can be seen that France was rich in arable land at that time. On the one hand, there was no power for the agricultural revolution. On the other hand, it also meant that farmers could make a living on the land. There was no need to leave their homes and families and leave their families to live in the city. In addition, France was backward. transportation, farmers are still tied to the land. The land enclosure movement is mainly grassland enclosure. Since the proportion of grassland land in British agricultural land is high, a considerable number of farmers are dependent on grassland. The land enclosure movement can enclosure many farmers. France has a lot of cultivated land, but the proportion of grassland land in agricultural land is low. Not many farmers were removed from the land enclosure movement. For these reasons, France's industrialization process lagged far behind that of Britain. By 1870, less than 23% of the British labor force was still engaged in agricultural labor, while France's agricultural labor force accounted for nearly 50% of the total labor force.

Although the total population of Britain at that time was still smaller than that of France, there were more free people who broke away from the land than France. These free people were not only the main force of scientific and technological innovation in the Industrial Revolution, but also the freedom needed for industrial production. labor force.

After the Industrial Revolution in Britain was basically completed around 1850, the total population was 27.5 million, and 25% of the agricultural population remained. That means there were still 6.88 million agricultural people and 20.62 million urban people. The food and agricultural products used as raw materials that the UK needs in the process of population urbanization mainly come from abroad, which means that the 6.88 million agricultural population is self-sufficient. In other words, Britain's arable land can accommodate 6.88 million agricultural people to make a living. If the British population only increased 1.7 times from 1500 to 1800 like France, then the British population in 1800 would be only 6.88 million, and the per capita arable land would be 1.49 times that of France. It is completely possible to make a living without relying on grassland. The enclosure movement has taken effect. Not big.

France’s population was only 35.6 million in 1850, an increase of 2.23 times from 1500. If the British population only increased by the same proportion, then the British population would be only 8.9 million in 1850, which is equivalent to only 2 million free people available for transfer, which is only 1/10 of the actual number, which means that the number of scientific and technological innovation personnel is only 1/1 of the actual number. 10. The probability of an inventor such as Watt emerging is only 1/10. The Industrial Revolution could not have happened in Britain.

Some people believe that the two most important conditions that stimulated the emergence of the Industrial Revolution are: international markets and capital markets. But these two conditions had already been fulfilled in the Netherlands before the Industrial Revolution in England. The Dutch created the country, the shareholding system, and maritime trade. Why didn't the Industrial Revolution happen in the Netherlands but in England? The main reason is that the population of the Netherlands is too small. By 1816, the population was only 2 million, only 1/10 of the United Kingdom. On the one hand, such a small population makes it difficult for inventors such as Watt to emerge. On the other hand, the free labor force in the Netherlands cannot provide broad market prospects. Inspiring production energy.

It should be noted that the demographic factor is only a necessary condition for the industrial revolution, not a sufficient condition.

At that time, China and India were "not necessarily necessary". They only had the factor of population and lacked other elements (such as the Renaissance, capital markets, overseas trade, and constitutional systems); the Netherlands and France were "not necessarily necessary", although It had other factors needed for the Industrial Revolution, but it lacked population, the most important factor at the time. Many of the necessary conditions required for the Industrial Revolution were perfectly unified in Britain, thus triggering the Industrial Revolution. At that time, central Scotland in the UK was the most densely populated, so it is not surprising that the Industrial Revolution originated in central Scotland.

In addition to allowing Britain to take the lead in completing the Industrial Revolution, its demographic advantage also enabled the British-American population to play a leading role in subsequent industrial revolutions. Since the Nobel Prize was established in 1901, as of 2006, the United States has won 228 Nobel Prizes, the United Kingdom has won 75 times, and Germany, which ranks third, has only 65 times. In recent years, more and more Nobel Prize winners have come to the United States. American scientists won all the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Physics, and Medicine in 2006. As the population of Europe shrinks and the population of the United States grows, the gap between Europe and the United States in science and technology will increase in the future. The gap will grow wider.