 1500‐1750: a significant increase in world population  Europe is by‐passing the biological Old Regime  heading to a new (modern) demographic pattern  the end of dramatic epidemics (black death is over)  A second Agricultural Revolution  land and property, new agricultural techniques  Why not in Asia?  the “Columbian exchange” reconsidered  During the 18th c. a change in patterns of consumption  increasing demand for former luxuries: sugar, chocolate, silks, … and calicos  intensification of labor and land use seem to “pay the bill ” for these expenses  From proto‐industry to industrialization?  (1) economies of scale (2) use of unskilled cheaper work‐force, (3) water energy  production is more efficiently organized  examples: sugar, beer and soysauce industries  The Industrial Revolution (1750‐1850 ca.)  only in England, the process that follows is called Industrialization or Second I.R.  Determines an astonishing growth in GDP but spatially unevenly distributed  Why did it happen in England?  a never‐ending debate  changing our point of view  explanations must be tentative  mechanization  steam‐engines  spinning‐machines  weaving‐machines  using technology: invention vs. innovation  economic motivations and a fitted cultural framework  must be profitable (Schumpeterian growth)  Chinese and Indian lack of incentive  work‐force is cheap due to agricultural productivity Richard Arkwright, Waterframe, 1769. Spinning machines Samuel Crompton, Mule, 1774-1779. James Hargreaves, Spinning Jenny, 1770. Weawing machines Edmund Cartwright, Power Loom, 1785-1789. The first fully automated loom  transforming non‐animated into animated energy  solar energy vs. mineral energy  “no coal, no party!”: China and England  the story of coal in England  wood crisis and coal as a substitute  steam‐power for coal mines  infrastructures: channels and rivers to transport a heavy commodity  The result: free from previous constraints Beyond the solar energy: fossile fuel formation  the building of an Empire  cheap raw materials supplies are crucial  not only coal: wool and iron  by controlling the “world system” cotton is also at hand  from North America and India  China’s hard choice: land for food or for cotton?  a failed Industrious Revolution  one industry at a time  textile first, iron then  useful to focus capitals on a single target  forward, backward and side linkages  the example of the textile industry (cotton gin, and mechanical looms)  1820s: the train arrives just in time  this shift determines a century‐long Industrial Revolution  the outcome: cheap commodities and no competitors  a unique advantage: a world blank market  until 1870 no decline in overall demand  shifting from one final market to another (1) medium‐upper class England and colonies; (2) medium‐upper class continental Europe; (3) working‐class England; (4) working‐class USA and Europe; (5) rest of the world