Lecture 13 : The Growth Of Capitalism Overview

1. Lecture 13 : The Growth Of Capitalism Overview MERCHANT CAPITALISM Merchant Capitalism The Agricultural Revolution Health In The Mercantilist Era - Plague - Tuberculosis INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM The Industrial Revolution Health In The 19th Century - The Epidemiological Transition

2. Merchant Capitalism • Overseas discoveries resulted in doctrine of mercantilism. • State power concentrated under control of monarchies. • Wealth accumulated by merchants and financiers. • Power and wealth was reflected in the built environment. • Period of social inequalities, but living conditions gradually improved for most people.

4. The 2nd Agricultural Revolution • Money valued more than land. Land used to make money. • More scientific approach to agriculture to maximise profits. • Four year crop rotation (wheat, turnips, barley, clover). • Seeds sown in rows, hoeing used to keep down weeds. • New breeds of cattle and sheep. • Cattle weights increased from 370lb (1710) to 800lb (1795). • Sheep weights increased from 28lb to 80lb in same period.

5. Land Enclosures • Open fields with small strips of land enclosed to form large fields. • Peasants were often cheated out of their rights. • Rural poor forced to leave the land – moved to cities in search of work.

6. Health In Mercantilist Era • Increased trade provided safeguard against famines. • Trade also resulted in interchange of infectious agents – many previously epidemic diseases became endemic. • Some endemic diseases evolved into diseases of childhood. • 18th century saw rapid population increases due to increased birth rates and declining death rates.

7. Plague • Plague had flared up from time to time since the Black Death – e.g. Venice (1575-77 and 1630-31), Spain (1596-1602, 1648-52 and 1677-85). • Plague began to disappear in Europe in the 17th century. • Last plague in England was Great Plague of London (1665) which killed 50,000 in first 3 months. Great Fire of London (1666) may have destroyed breeding grounds of the black rat. • Last plague in Western Europe was in Marseilles (1720-21). Believed to have been bubonic plague. • Persisted longer in Eastern Europe – Moscow lost 56,000 in 1771.

8. Tuberculosis • Tuberculosis (consumption) became a major cause of death in the 17th century. May have declined in 18th , before becoming big again in the 19th. • The causal agent (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) is very similar to the causal agent of leprosy (Mycobacterium leprae). • Infection by one seems to provide immunity against the other. • Leprosy declined as TB increased.

9. Industrial Capitalism • Industrial revolution initially based on the mechanisation of the textile industries. • Factories initially built by fast flowing rivers, but invention of steam power enabled them to be built much larger. • Rural cottage textile industries collapsed, driving more rural people into the cities. • Laissez faire replaced mercantilism as industrial capitalists became the dominant class in society.

10. Working And Living Conditions • People (including women and children) had to work very long hours to survive – no welfare system. • Working conditions dangerous due to dust, fibres and noxious fumes, plus injuries from unguarded machinery. • Workers housed at very high densities in poor quality housing. • Houses lacked water supply and sewerage disposal. Courtyard and back to back designs inhibited ventilation. • Diets were poor; food adulterated to maximise profits.

11. Health In Early Industrial Era • Industrial cities were very unhealthy: death rate in cities in 1830s was 26.2 per thousand, compared with 18.2 in rural areas. • Life expectancy was 50 in Wiltshire, 35 in Liverpool. • Life expectancy for Liverpool working classes was 15. • Common diseases included smallpox, cholera, tuberculosis, typhus and typhoid. • Infant and childhood mortality rates were high due to scarlet fever; diphtheria, whooping cough; measles; and summer diarrhoea.

12. Epidemics • There were major typhus epidemics in 1817-9, 1826-7, 1831-2, 1837, and 1846-8. • There were major cholera epidemics in Britain and Ireland as part of the 2nd to 5th pandemics (1831-2, 1848-9, 1853-4 and 1865-6).

13. The Epidemiological Transition • Major change between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries. • Living conditions improved, better sanitation and sewerage, big advances in medicine. • Changes referred to as the epidemiological transition: • Deaths from infectious diseases declined. • The mean age at death and hence life expectancy increased. • More people died from non-infectious (degenerative diseases) such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. • Mortality ‘spikes’ caused by epidemics became uncommon.