Facts on File - Encyclopedia of World History Vol 4 - Age of Revolution and Empire - 1750 to 1900
Major Themes
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Major Themes 1750 to 1900 FOOD PRODUCTION Between the mid-18th century and the dawn of the 20th, the ancient and essential work of feeding the world was dramatically transformed to varying extents in different parts of the world Despite astonishing changes in mechanization, transport, agricultural science, and food preservation techniques, farmers everywhere were still at the mercy of weather and pestilence As agriculture became internationalized, farmers were also affected more than ever before by crop and price fluctuations The world’s overall supply of food increased spectacularly, yet many still starved or were undernourished Most countries were still predominantly rural in 1750 In the countryside, families and communities tried, even on the tiniest plots, to grow enough food to sustain themselves In emerging cities, most residents used available open spaces for cows, pigs, goats, or chickens and perhaps a fruit tree or vegetable patch The wealthiest and most important people in most societies did not usually farm themselves but controlled quantities of fertile land and could compel laborers—slaves, serfs, or peasants—to farm it Agricultural change was already afoot In the Americas, where settlers from Spain, France, and Britain had appropriated land formerly controlled by Native peoples, commodity agriculture built wealth for the colonizers and their homelands By 1750, Chesapeake planters who had built a thriving economy on tobacco were diversifying into grains and other crops After the American Revolution, cotton became king in the southern states Slaves were used to raise the crop that fed the textile mills of the Western world’s Industrial Revolution Even as farming became commercialized, the New World’s enormous land resources seemed to promise agricultural independence to generations of farmers U.S president Thomas Jefferson, himself the owner of dozens of slaves, advocated an agrarian nation that would feed the world while maintaining the sturdy self-reliance of virtuous small farmers Mexico and Central and South America remained overwhelmingly rural until the later 19th century and continued to rely almost entirely on traditional Indian crops, such as corn and squash, and agricultural methods including burning the residual stalks and roots after harvesting Wars of xxv