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the Navigation Acts required that goods imported from Europe be carried on British-owned ships or on ships of the exporting country. These laws gave British merchants and ship owners a virtual monopoly on trade with British colonies. The Navigation Acts were a form of economic warfare that initially targeted the Dutch, who were far ahead of the English in shipping and foreign trade. -
There was an economic boom during the Middle Ages due to the rise of a guild system. The guild system reached its peak in most of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries as they grew dramatically in number in cities and towns. Guild masters occupied the summit of the world of work, receiving a set of privileges and being punished if these were violated. Guilds also served social and religious functions, providing a locus of sociability and group identity to the middling classes of European cities. -
Spanish influence expanded westward all the way to northern California through the efforts of Spanish missionaries and ranchers. To keep up with food production for the mining camps, Spanish landowners developed the system of debt peonage, a form of serfdom, through which they kept indigenous workers on their estates in perpetual debt bondage by advancing them food, shelter, and a little money. -
Europe's Agricultural Revolution began in England in the 1800's. This bought change in how people planted crops and grew goods. Overall labor was reduced due to new farming equipment. New ways of farming allowed for richer soil and better crop output. -
The greatest accomplishment of medieval agriculture was the open-field system of village agriculture developed by European peasants, which sustained fairly large numbers of people but did not produce material abundance. The open-field system divided the land to be cultivated by the peasants into several large fields which were maintained by the peasants and distributed to all who worked. -
This series of Acts got rid of the old open field system of the Middle Ages in favor of landowners sectioning off their land so they could make more profit. This system clearly favored the wealthy while the peasants were forced to find work in more rural areas. -
The Atlantic Slave Trade intensified after 1750 and peaked in the 1780s when an average of eighty thousand slaves per year was shipped across the Atlantic. while most Europeans did not personally witness the horrors of the slave trade, the horrors told by those who survived Europeans and this event helped push Europe to abolish slavery later on. -
Rapid population growth in Europe began during the mid-18th century. This can be attributed to the scientific revolution, which invented new technology and medicinal practices. Economically, this benefited Europe as there was a larger workforce. This was also caused by the growing amount of food available due to the agricultural revolution and trade. All of these factors lead to a massive population increase in Europe. in the 1800th century. -
The last major conflict before the French Revolution to involve all the great powers of Europe. But the Seven Years’ War also involved overseas colonial struggles between Great Britain and France, the main points of contention between those two traditional rivals being the struggle for control of Indian territories in North America. -
Occurring in northwestern European households, families reduced leisure time, stepped up their pace of work, and most important, redirected the labor of women and children away from the production of goods for household consumption and toward wage work. The role of women and girls in this new economy is particularly controversial as women entered the labor market, they almost always worked at menial, tedious jobs for very low wages.