CRRS 105
World Civilization II
Lecture 1
The World Around 1400
Reading: Robert B. Marks. The Origins of the Modern World, pp. 19-33
© Dr. Francis Chan
The World around 1400
1. Overwhelmingly agricultural
2. Trading networks centered around Indian Ocean
Key concepts:
- Civilization
- Agricultural revolution; agricultural surplus
- Ruling elites & peasants / cities & countryside / core & periphery
- The environment – “the biological old regime”
© Dr. Francis Chan 2
The World 1400-1700
• Transition to agriculture – 9,000 BCE to 2,000 BCE → most people
anywhere in the world shared a similar material world
• Around 1400: world population = about 380 million, 80-90% =
rural farmers
• Numbers of people limited by land available for farming &
producing food
• Population increase & decrease according to climatic conditions
• Population centers: 1) China (25-40%), 2) India (20%), 3) Europe
(25%) – total world population
© Dr. Francis Chan 3
Agricultural Revolution
• Produced “agricultural surplus” → a society of 2 levels: 1) peasant
farmers, who produced food, 2) ruling elites (rulers & priests) =>
feudalism
• Gave rise to “civilization”: 1) cities 2) writing & accounting systems
• Cities: where elites ruled the land, kept track of peasants and
amount of food produced, collected taxes & rents; priests
performed rituals and created stories of origin
• City + surrounding countryside normally not self-sufficient →
trade with other cities or nomads, or conquer territories to secure
important resources → empires
© Dr. Francis Chan 4
Towns & Cities
• Their number and size indicate wealth of a society (ability to
produce surplus)
• 1400: Most towns & cities were in Asia, particularly China.
5
Population Increase
• Population increase indicates success in obtaining greater food
energy from the ecosystem → growth of cities & civilizations,
trade, education, intellectual & religious development
The more people, the more need for food from the land -- 3 ways in
1400:
- Bring more land under cultivation => migration, might lead to
conflicts with other peoples/pastoral nomads
- More intensive use of a plot of land (such as better seeds)
- Increase water or fertilizer
China used all 3 methods → population 1400-1800: 85 million to
320/350 million
© Dr. Francis Chan 6
Population decrease
• Population decrease due to:
- Famine from overpopulation (beyond the capacity of the land)
and/or “squeese” from rulers (for wars, etc.)
- Disease
• Human population has a reverse relationship with wildlife
population
© Dr. Francis Chan 7
“Biological old regime”
• Population & lifestyle constrained by the biological environment
• To increase yields:
- Europe: 3 field system – land divided into 3 and rotated in a 3-year
cycle:
1/3 - planted with crops
1/3 - leave animals to graze & defecate
1/3 - leave alone (fallow)
- Asia: Land planted yearly but use animal manure, human waste
(often collected from cities) & plant matter
© Dr. Francis Chan 8
“Biological old regime”
• Population constrained by biological factors
• 1400-1800: farmers & rulers tried hard to increase yields by
farming more land & more intensively – tripled from 180 million-
540 million hectares; population increased from 380 million to
950 million -- but there is a limit.
• In all civilizations, 80-90% of people were peasant farmers
supporting the elites, who governed, ministered, traded, waged
wars, etc.
• Epidemic diseases affected all, including elites; can spread
across the world (e.g. the Black Death)
© Dr. Francis Chan 9
What? From where? How?
Activity Food
• In your groups, imagine
your hometown (a Clothing
farming village) in 1400.
Think about how you
would meet your basic
need for food, clothing
and shelter from
resources around your Shelter
dwelling.
© Dr. Francis Chan 10
