Economic developments of the sixteenth century

Economic developments of the sixteenth century

Introduction

                       All too often historians, and those involved in reenacting history, become concerned about historical events without questioning the underlying factors that caused them to occur. The most often ignored of these "hidden" causes is probably economics. Yet, during the Renaissance, it came to be one of the two major "influencers" of events on the world stage (religion being the other). One has but to estimate the revenues saved by the remittance of income to the Pope by the Protestant rulers to understand the effects of economics upon the policies of princes. To believe that Henry VIII, Gustavas Vasa and the Protestant princes of Germany were not influenced by the wealth to be gained by appropriating Church property in their countries is to insult the intelligence of those great (and not so great) rulers.

                                                                    Not that economics as a driving force of history was something new to the Renaissance; indeed, far from it. The Romans and Byzantines had understood the importance of unimpeded trade routes and the generous flow of goods. But four major events that took place in the 15th and 16th centuries catapulted economics into a position of prominence that J-t was never again to surrender: 1) the advent of the Renaissance itself, 2) the Reformation, 3) the beginnings of Nation States and 4) the expansion of Europe into the New World and Far East.

The Renaissance

                                    If we consider the Renaissance strictly a cultural phenomenon, it broadened the horizons of the inquisitive and heightened their interest in the physical world. A greater demand for books, buildings, furniture, art and clothing resulted. This, in turn, created "consumer" civilization, the first of its kind in a thousand years. As fate would have it, just as this awakening to the exotic, sophisticated and elegant developed, the world's horizons were expanded by Columbus, da Gama and the other Renaissance explorers. But that is a theme to which we shall return later.

                                                                      A new richness and sophistication developed during the Renaissance that overturned the simpler standards of the Middle Ages. If the Middle Ages can be categorized as a time of castles, cathedrals and monasteries, the Renaissance became a time of palaces, country manors and villas. The change in tastes led to a change in demand and the creation of new professions, among them the architect.

The Reformation

                                   It would be both cynical and untrue to say that the Reformation was sparked by the greed of princes. But the closing of the monasteries and appropriation of Church lands and properties in several of the newly Protestant countries enriched many royal coffers. This, coupled with the money no longer paid to the Popes, helped these countries support costly Courts and equally costly wars.

                                                                The Reformation also effected the financial world. Though often ignored, the Catholic Church frowned on usury if it could be considered theft or further impoverished the poor. Many of the Protestant reformers believed that interest, if not oppressive, was in accordance with Nature's Laws. Some even saw it as a just reward for the service rendered by the loaning of money.

                                                            The "Protestant work ethic" was a stimulant for the working middle class. Now that working in the service of money could also be seen as working in the service of God, the bourgeoisie was free to, in good conscience, expand its role in the newly emergent Capitalism that was emerging in the United Provinces and, to a lesser extent, England and France. 

The Rich Of Nation States

                                                   The construction of nation states, a process that would not be complete until the mid-seventeenth century, was to place vast areas under the control of individual monarches. Counties, duchies and city states were merged into single units over which universal standards of measure could be enforced. The Kings and princes began to dismantle the numerous trade barriers that the feudal system, by its very nature, had erected. Roads and canals were constructed or improved, speeding the flow of goods across the state.

                                                                  The embryonic nation states of the Renaissance, better organized and resourced than the surviving city-states in Italy and the smaller states of Germany, came to dominate the European stage. The normal path for this domination was war. From 1494 to 1559 there was fighting almost every year in some part of Europe. When these wars became too large for the European stage, they spread to the New World and the Far East, as they did between Spain and Portugal in the mid 1500's and between England and Spain in the late 16th century.

                                                             This heavy reliance on war, and the expenses of their lavish Courts, left the rulers of the 16th century with Renaissance bills to be paid by feudal revenue systems. They were forced to invent new sources of income such as the sales of titles and monopolies. Such sales increased the number and scope of a late medieval/early Renaissance phenomenon-the merchant/banker prince.

                                                                           This is not to say that such an entity was new. The Bardi's had risen to wealth and power in the 14th century. But they had been decimated by Edward III's refusal to repay massive loans and the other disasters of the mid 1300's. And none of the Bardi had been titled. In 1441 the commoner Jacques Coeur had been ennobled for his financial assistance to the French crown. Jealousy by the old and established nobility lead to his downfall in 1451 and flight from France in 1454.

                                                                             It was not until the Medici of Florence and the Fuggers of Bavaria that the ideal of the merchant prince was to reach its realization. The Medici came to rule Florence, supplied Popes and became the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The Fuggers paid for Charles V election to the imperial throne and were rewarded by shares of the New World trade confirmation of the monopoly of the Tyrolean silver mines and, after 1560, patents of nobility. The Fuggers came to control Spanish custorns and Fugger operations reached from Poland to Portugal to the Papal States to the New World.  This rise of the middle class, most visible in France, marked the beginning of the modern age. Slowly at first, the working population began to gain control of the industrial means of the state in a movement that would eventually relegate the nobility to the background. In the meantime, it marked a slight softening of the class boundaries between the gentry/nobility and the wealthy upper middle class. It was still difficult to "rise above one's station" but it was not impossible.

                                                                       In addition to the sales of titles and monopolies, the crowned heads of the Renaissance resorted to indirect taxes on sales, imports and exports, sales of crown property and, of course, loans from the Medici, Fuggers and the like. Some states, France and England in particular, were forced to debase their coinage to pay for the wars they fought in the first half of the century. The English penny in 1553 contained one-sixth the silver of the penny of 1509. This almost Europe-wide (only Spain resisted the temptation to cut the gold and silver content of their coins---they could afford to) devaluation was one of the two major factors contributing to the century-long steady rise in prices that cursed the 16th century. Others, like Spain and Portugal, could rely on colonial possessions. The western European states, denied an active part in the economic life of central Europe, became empire builders instead. 

The Expansion Of Europe

                                                Spain and Portugal lead the way. Portugal, with the advantage of an early start, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and soon assumed a dominant position in the Indian Ocean. In a few years she came to control the spice trade between Europe and the fabled Spice Islands, cutting Venice out as the middleman. Sadly, Portugal's peripheral location and lack oil' trade routes with the interior, led to a concentration of the spice profits in the hands of the merchants of Antwerp. But, for a short time, Portugal prospered.

                                                                Spain, on the other hand, conquered the New World. Tobacco and potatoes came to the Old World, as did many other crops that would change forever the culinary and recreational pleasures of Renaissance Europeans. But the most important import brought back to the New World was an immense amount of silver and gold. This treasure, brought to a single point in Spain by two fleets per year, were used to finance the Hapsburg Empires wars against France, England, the Ottoman Empire, the Protestant German princes, various Italian city states and not a few internal revolts. The Kings of Spain eventually borrowed against future shipments and, when these did not match expectations, bankruptcy ensued.

                                                                  But the most far-reaching effect of this influx of treasure (and the reason that I believe it to be the single most important economic factor of the Renaissance) was the so-called Price Revolution. If you compare the amount of treasure being brought to Europe from the New World to the level of prices in Europe, you will find that the increases match almost perfectly. The price of goods increased, on the average, by a factor of three between 1500 and 1600. Meanwhile wages, because of the devaluation of coinage throughout Europe, with the exception of Spain, fell by half. Thus, it can be seen, that the effects of these imports into Europe were generally negative: 1) they provided the necessary funding for Spain's relentless wars, 2) they led to a raising of prices while 3) causing a corresponding decline in wages.

Europ’s Econamy 1500-1600

                                                         The first fifty years of the 16th century were "boom" years for Europe's economy. These were years of increased economic activity and accumulating wealth. Merchants from Antwerp, Venice and Seville traded across the Baltic, through Germany, into the Levant, into the New World and the Far East. The pace from 1500 to 1550 was frenzied. After mid-century it began to slow somewhat. The opening of the world by Spain and Portugal created a tremendous requirement for investment in new methods and institutions. Technological advances were required to sail the distances now demanded by the sizes of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires. New nautical techniques were needed to deal with winds and currents of the Atlantic and Pacific, which were fundamentally different from those of the Mediterranean. New market structures were erected to meet changing supplies and demands as the intermittent medieval fair systems gave way to the market and bourse. Antwerp became the commercial center of Europe until its sack in 1576.

                                                     Industry in the 16th century was, for the most part, concentrated in a corridor running from Tuscany to Flanders. Southern England, Holland, northern France, northern Italy and central Spain were the major textile centers, with the areas around Naples, Lisbon, Granada and Prague being somewhat less important producers. Metallurgy was centered in Brussels, central Spain, Sweden, Verdun and the mountains south of Prague.

Spain, despite its material wealth, could no longer sustain itself. She had not developed herself economically, believing that monetary wealth was a replacement for such development. Her population was decimated by plagues in the 1590's, and this, coupled with tremendous financial problems, led to a barely perceptible decline by 1598. France, wracked by a series of costly religious civil wars, was also economically on the ropes. Her recovery in the 17th century was nothing short of a miracle. Italy and the Mediterranean tied to the Hapsburg Empire and Spain, followed them into decline. Towards the end of the century the European economy slowed considerably. Storm clouds gathered as the flow of treasure from the New World slowed but the crisis was not to strike until the 17th century.

                                                  Holland, through the use of advanced financial and technological methods, managed to escape much of the ruin that began in the last decade of the 16th century. Indeed, the Dutch republic stood at the door of a half-century of triumph that would see her replace Portugal as the dominant power in the Indian Ocean, plant colonies in the Caribbean and found New York City. But, due to little foresight on her own account, the future belonged to England.

 16^th Centure Economics And Persona Development

                                                                                                      The Renaissance is a fascinating time in which to "live". The scope for persona development is, in my opinion, far less limited than that of earlier periods. Many factors contribute to this. These include the ability for worldwide travel, new wealth, increased sophistication and a loosening of the boundaries between the upper and middle classes. And the economic trends of the times contributed to all of these factors. With these factors in mind, I shall describe how seven basic persona types were effected by Renaissance economics.

                                                                 The great landed nobility and landed gentry continued to serve as the ruling class during the Renaissance, just as they had been during the Middle Ages. In some countries, such as England and, later France, civil wars had lessened their number-- but not their power. It would await the rise of the middle class for these two classes to be fatally weakened. During the Renaissance they became more sophisticated and wealthy, as their states became more sophisticated and wealthy. They developed a taste for luxury items such as books, spices and silk. Many amassed impressive libraries and collections. Humphrey of Gloucester, younger brother of Henry V was known as an educated and refined man and served as the prototype of the new type of noble--the ones who could read the books that they collected.

As the influx of silver and gold from the New World caused a steady increase in prices and as the value of money eroded over the century an economy based on mobile money began to replace that based on land holdings and control of industry by the guilds. The great landed nobles found a knowledge of business and finance increasingly important and the successful ones invested in the new economic system. The unsuccessful ones found themselves squeezed between the kings and the business controlled cities.

                                                               As the boundaries between the upper and middle class soften a new phenomenon came into existence---the financier and merchant-prince. Ennobling for service had been a relatively common thing during the Middle Ages, and it continued during the Renaissance. Charles Brandon was made the Duke of Suffolk for services to Henry VIII. But now the rich man could do it as well. Thus, a persona could spring from wealthy merchants recently inducted into the gentry or nobility as well as those who were born into it. Some of the gentry, such as Raleigh and Drake, prospered in part because they were able to give their Queen a good economic return upon her investments in their undertakings. A financier persona would also do well. Some of the basic tenets of the Protestant revolution removed the negative aspects of money handling and lending. Even non-merchant personae would be aware of the "capitalist revolution" that was taking place around them and would understand at least some of the fundamentals of a fluid money economy.

                                                                The expansion of Europe into the East and the New World offers wonderful opportunities for persona development. The first is the explorer persona. Driven, in part, by the search for trade routes to the riches of the East, Spain and Portugal sent forth numerous expeditions. The English and French followed shortly afterwards. The foundation of the explorer persona's reason for existence might be religious, the search for adventure or the search for wealth, both persona and for his home country. Either way he too understands the importance and power of money and can feel how the economic winds are effecting Europe.

                                                              The Renaissance offered the soldier an expanded role as well. For the first time in a thousand years he is a professional, a part of a nation's standing army. Instead of serving as a forty days a year vassal to some great lord or King, the soldier is now a paid (at least in theory) servant of the crown. He might serve as far afield as Mexico, Peru, India, the Celebes and the Philippines, particularly in Spanish and Portuguese. His chance for personal wealth and prosperity, though not great, is far better than it had been in the past. This is due, in no small part, to the increased wealth of his potential enemies and paymasters. The soldier also has a much better chance of seeing much of Europe in his campaign towards wealth and higher social status. Hapsburg armies fought in Italy, against the Turks, in France, in Germany, in Hungary, in Ireland and in Holland. In these days, while honor was still important to the soldier, money and social advancement were also important. Blaise de Monluc, a member of the minor gentry, was knighted by the King of France and made a Marshal of France for service to the Crown that took him to Italy and also involved him in many of the battles during the French Religious Wars.

                                                                           Another personal type new to the Renaissance and made possible or at least strengthened by the economic events of the 16th century is the colonial administrator. This would be primarily a Spanish or Portuguese persona, since the only non-Iberian colonies in the 16th century were the ill-fated English Virginia colony and the French Huguenot colony in Florida. The colonial administrator is very concerned with the economics of trade between his colony and the home country. The terms of trade between the two, particularly with Spain, wag most often unfavorable.

                                                                          Finally, a professional class arose during the Renaissance quite separate from the guild system. Guilds were in decay, as the upper middle class city dwellers began to gain control of the means of industrial production. The guilds had not been organized in such a way to take advantage of the newly developed capitalistic system and paid the price for it. The new professionals, including printers architects and financiers, were prepared to grasp the reins and became a vital part of the economic development of Europe, even as they were effected by that development.

Agriculture Production In India

Agriculture Production In  India 

introducation

                          India has a very large land area with diverse climatic zones. Throughout its history, agriculture has been its predominant productive activity. During the Mughal period, large tracts of land were under the plough. Contemporary Indian and foreign writers praise the fertility of Indian soil. A wide range of food crops, fruits, vegetables and crop were grown in India. However, we would take a stock only of the main crop grown during this period. We will also discuss the methods of cultivation as also the implements used for cultivation and irrigation technology. While focusing on the area under Mughal control, we will also include the areas lying outside it. We have very little information about the economic condition of the people under the Delhi Sultanate. The historians of the period were more interested in the events at the court than in the lives of ordinary people.

                                    However, they do sometimes tell us the price of commodities. Ibn Battutah, a resident of Tangier in North Africa, visited India in the fourteenth century and lived at the court of Muhammad Tughlaq for eight years. He travelled widely all over India and has left a very interesting account of the products of the country, including fruits, flowers, herbs, etc. the condition of the roads and the life of the people. The food grains and other crops, the fruits and the flowers mentioned by various travellers are familiar to us. Ibn Battutah says that the soil was so fertile that it could produce two crops every year, rice being sown three times a year. Sesame, sugarcane and cotton were also grown. They formed the basis of many village industries, such as oil pressing, making of jaggery, weaving, etc.

Village Economy and Peasantry:

                                                              As before, peasants formed the overwhelming majority of the population. The peasant continued to work hard and to eke out bare subsistence. There were recurring famines and wars in different parts of the country and these added to the hardships of the peasant. All the peasants did not live at the level of subsistence. The village headmen (muqaddams) and smaller landlord (khuts) enjoyed a higher standard of life. In addition to their own holdings, they held lands for which they paid revenue at concessional rates. Sometimes, they misused their offices to force the ordinary peasants to pay their share of the land revenue also.

These people were prosperous enough to ride on costly Arabi and Iraqi horses, wear fine clothes and behave like members of the upper classes. As we have seen, Alauddin Khilji took stern action against them and curtailed many of their privileges. Even then they continued to enjoy a higher standard of life than to ordinary peasants. It seems that after the death of Alauddin, they were able to resume their old ways.

Mughal Period:

                            During the 16th and 17th centuries, 85 per cent of India’s population lived in rural areas. The largest section in the village consisted of peasants or cultivators. There were three main classes of peasants.

Khud-kasht (riyayati):

                                   Those residential peasants living in their own village, owning their own land and implements, paying the land-revenue at a concessional rate, formed the governing body of the village community. Also called mirasdars in Maharashtra and gharu-hala in Rajasthan.

Pahi-kasht:

                      These peasants were basically outsiders but cultivated the rented land in a village either by staying in the same village (residential pahi-kasht) or by staying in the neighbouring villages (non-residential pahi-kasht).

Muzarian (raiyatis):

                                   Those who belonged to the same village but who did not have either land or implements and hence were dependent on the Khud-kasht for their supply. They were divided into two groups; tenants-at-will and those who had hereditary tenant rights, called as paltis in Rajastan.

                                                            The Indian peasantry in the Mughal Empire was highly stratified and there was considerable difference in the size of holdings, produce and resources of peasants within the same locality. India had a well diversified economy with the cultivation of a large variety of crops. Cotton, indigo, chay (red dye), sugarcane, oil seeds paid land revenue at a higher rate and had to be paid in cash hence, called cash crops or superior crops. The peasants not only shifted his cultivation from one crop to other but also adopted new crops. Tobacco and maize were introduced in the 17th century. The adoption of potato and red chillies followed during the 18th century.

                                                        During this period, India also exported food grains, especially rice and sugar. The peasant was not disposed from his land as long as he paid the land revenue. Although the life of the peasant was hard, he had enough to eat and meet his simple requirements.

Prosperous agriculture:

                                             According to Ibn Batuta, a traveller who came from North Africa in India during the fourteenth century, agriculture was in a state of great progress. The soil was so fertile that it produced two crops every year; rice being sown three times a year.

                                                     Sesame, sugar-cane and cotton were grown in abundance and these formed the basis of several village industries. Rice of Sarsauti, sugar-cane of Kanauj, wheat and betel leaf of Malwa, wheat of Gwalior, ginger and spices of Malabar, grapes and pomegranates of Daultabad, betel nuts of the South India and a large variety of oranges were popular in and outside India. Cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables etc. were produced in almost all parts of India.The Ganga-Yamuna Doab remained always famous for its fertility and large scale production.Animal husbandry was in a very advanced stage. Ordinarily there was plenty of food production. However, on account of the failure of rains, there were periods of draught.

Condition of peasants:

                                       Peasants formed the overwhelming majority of the population. They had to work hard to eke out bare subsistence. Usually they were required to pay one-third of their produce as land revenue.

Industry:

               Textile industry was the primary industry. Cotton, silk and woolen clothes of different varieties was produced in large quantity. The clothes were studded with gold, diamond, pearl, silver and other stones. Indian textiles were in great demand in foreign countries. The skill of Indian craftsmen was of a high order. Indian cotton textiles were introduced in China as well where these were valued more than silk. Bengal and Gujarat were famous for their fine quality fabrics.

Important handicrafts were such as carpet weaving, mat work and leather work. Besides textile industry, sugar industry, paper industry, metal work, stone cutting, pearl driving out of the sea, ivory and sandal wood work were other important industries of India. The Sultans had set up several ‘Karkhanas’ (workshops).

Trade and commerce:

                                         India carried a brisk trade—both internal as well as external. Delhi was the largest city and the most important trading centre. Other important trade centres were: Daultabad, in the south, Lahore and Multan in the north-west, Kara and Lakhnauti in the east and Anhilwara (Patan) and Cambay (Khambayat) in the west. External trade was very profitable and it was one of the main causes of the wealth of India. India had trade relations with Iran, Arabia, European countries, Africa, China, Malaya, Afghanistan and Central Asia, etc.

Agricultural produce

                                         India with extensive land area, different types of soils and varying climatic conditions, could boast of a large variety of agricultural products. We will discuss agricultural produce under three heads-food crops, cash crops and fruits, vegetables and spices.

Food Crops

                       The majority of seasonal crops in North India were grown in two major crop seasons kharif (autumn) and rabi (spring). In some areas the peasants tended to grow even three crops by producing some short-term crops in between. Rice was the main kharif crop and wheat was rabi. In South India, these distinct crop-seasons with different crops were absent. Here, Rice and wheat were the two major food crops throughout the country. The regions with high rainfall (40″ to 50″) accounted for the bulk of rice production. The whole of Northeast, Eastern India (Bihar, Bengal, Orissa with parts of Eastern U.P.), southern coast of Gujarat and South India, were rice producing areas. As indicated above, in South India there were two main seasons of rice cultivation kuddapah-kar and samba-peshanam. However, Abul Fazl says that its consumption was. injurious to health. The same is confirmed by modern researches. It was believed for long that maize (makai or makka) was not known in India during 17th century. Some recent works establish beyond doubt that it was grown definitely in Rajasthan and Maharashtra and possibly other regions also during the second half of the 17th century.

Cash Crops

                       Crops grown mainly for the market are commonly termed as cash cops. These are referred in    Persian records as jinsi kamil or jinsi ala (superior grade crops). Unlike seasonal food crops, these occupied the fields almost the whole year. The major cash crops in 16th-17th centuries were sugarcane, cotton, indigo and opium. All these crops were known in India from historical times. However, in the 17th century their demand increased due to enhanced manufacturing and commercial activities. During this period, a large foreign market also opened for these commodities. The Indian peasant, quick to follow the market demand, increased the cultivation of these crops. Sugarcane was the most widely grown cash crop of the period. The Ain-i Akbari records it in most of the dastur circles of Agra, Awadh, Lahore, Multan and Allahabad. Sugar from Bengal was considered to be the best in quality. Multan, Malwa, Sind, Khandesh, Berar and region of South India all testify to the presence of sugarcane in the 17th century. Another cash crop grown throughout the country was cotton. The region with large scale cultivation were parts of the present day Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bengal. Contemporary sources refer to its cultivation in Ajmer, Allahabad, Awadh, Bihar, Multan, Thatta (Sind), Lahore and Delhi. Indigo was another cash crop widely cultivated under the Mughals. The plant yielded a blue dye (neel) which was much in

demand in India and European markets. Its presence is recorded in the dastur circles of Awadh, Allahabad, Ajmer, Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Multan and Sind. Its cultivation is referred in Gujarat, Bihar, Bengal, Malwa and Coromandal in South India and Deccan. The varieties high in demand were those of Bayana and Sarkhej. Bayana, a place near Agra, was considered as producing the

best quality of indigo and fetched high price. Sarkhej, near Ahmedabad, was considered second in quality and also fetched a high price. Other notable places for quality indigo were regions around Khurja and Aligarh (in U.P.), Sehwan (in Sind) and Telingana (in Deccan). Cultivation of opium is reported from a number of places in India. The Mughal provinces of Bihar and Malwa seem to have  produced good opium. It was also cultivated in Awadh, Bihar, Delhi, Agra, Multan, Lahore, Bengal, Gujarat, Marwar, and Mewar in Rajasthan. Cultivation of tobacco seems to have spread in India in a short time.

                                       The main oil yielding crops listed are rapeseed, castor, linseed. Rapeseed is reported in all provinces from Allahabad to Multan as also in Bengal. Cultivation of oilseed plants was relatively less widespread.

Fruits, Vegetables and Spices

Horticulture seems to have reached new heights during the Mughal period. The Mughal Emperors and the nobles planted lavish orchards. Almost every noble of consequence had his gardens on the outskirts of the towns where they resided. Orchards and groves were laid down with careful planning. A number of fruits available today were introduced in India during 16th and 17th centuries. Pineapple (anannas) is one such fruit which was brought from Latin America and introduced in India by the Portuguese. In a short period of time it became popular and was extensively cultivated all over the country. Papaya and cashew-nuts were also introduced through the same agency, but their spread was a bit slow. Leechi and guava seem to have been introduced later. Cherries were brought from Kabul and grown in Kashmir through grafting. The practice of grafting was in order to improve the quality of a number of fruits. Quality of oranges and other types of citrus fruits, apricots, mangoes and a host of other fruits was greatly improved through grafting. Coconut was grown not only along the coastal region but also inland. Seeds of different variety of melons and grapes were brought from Kabul and successfully grown in the gardens of Emperors and nobles. Ordinary melons were grown everywhere on riverbeds by the peasants. A large variety of vegetables were grown all over the country. The Ain-i Akbarl provides a long list of vegetables in use at that time. Potato and Tomato seem to have been introduced in the 17th century and after. For centuries India was known for its spices.

                                               The Southern coast of India witnessed large scale spice export to various regions in Asia and Europe. Pepper, clove, cardamom were plentiful. Ginger and Turmeric were grown extensively. The Dutch and English purchased large quantities for export. Saffron grown in Kashmir was celebrated for its colour and flavour. Pan (betel leaf) was produced in many areas. The Maghi Pan of Bihar and various other varieties from Bengal were famous. Betel-nut was also produced in coastal regions. Large forest tracts supplied a number of commercially important products. Lignum used for medicinal purpose and lakh were exported in large quantities.

                                       

Landlords and peasants in Europe & Agricultural expansion; crops 750 -1206

Agricultural expansion; crops HIstory +3 3rd Semester

                           

Introduction

                 The recent intensification of agriculture, and the prospects of future intensification, will have major detrimental impacts on the nonagricultural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the world. The doubling of agricultural food production during the past 35 years was associated with a 6.87-fold increase in nitrogen fertilization, a 3.48-fold increase in phosphorus fertilization, a 1.68-fold increase in the amount of irrigated cropland, and a 1.1-fold increase in land in cultivation. Based on a simple linear extension of past trends, the anticipated next doubling of global food production would be associated with approximately 3-fold increases in nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization rates, a doubling of the irrigated land area, and an 18% increase in cropland. These projected changes would have dramatic impacts on the diversity, composition, and functioning of the remaining natural ecosystems of the world, and on their ability to provide society with a variety of essential ecosystem services. The largest impacts would be on freshwater and marine ecosystems, which would be greatly eutrophied by high rates of nitrogen and phosphorus release from agricultural fields. Aquatic nutrient eutrophication can lead to loss of biodiversity, outbreaks of nuisance species, shifts in the structure of food chains, and impairment of fisheries. Because of aerial redistribution of various forms of nitrogen, agricultural intensification also would eutrophy many natural terrestrial ecosystems and contribute to atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases. These detrimental environmental impacts of agriculture can be minimized only if there is much more efficient use and recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus in agroecosystems.

                                                           The agricultural achievements of the past 35 years have been impressive. Grain production, mainly from wheat, rice, and maize, has increased at a rate greater than human population. This has decreased the number of malnourished people even as the earth’s human population doubled to 5.8 billion. Although the estimates vary widely, world population is projected to increase about 75% before leveling off at about 10 billion. In combination with increasing demand for meat in developing countries and the use of grains as livestock feed, this increased population density should cause world demand for grain production to more than double. This raises several important questions. If it is possible for world food production to double, again, within the next four or five decades, what impacts would this doubling have on the functioning of the nonagricultural ecosystems of the world, and on the services they provide to humanity? What routes might be used to decrease such impacts? I explore these questions first by asking what the global ecological impacts of “more of the same” agriculture might be, and then by considering practices that might decrease such impacts. In particular, insights are sought in the parallels between natural and agricultural ecosystems, but no easy answers are uncovered. Rather, a new long-term, multidisciplinary research program is needed to develop agricultural methods that can feed a growing world and still preserve the vital services provided to humanity by the world’s natural ecosystems.

                                                            Current agricultural practices involve deliberately maintaining ecosystems in a highly simplified, disturbed, and nutrient-rich state. To maximize crop yields, crop plant varieties are carefully selected to match local growing conditions. Limiting factors, especially water, mineral nitrogen, and mineral phosphate, are supplied in excess, and pests are actively controlled. These three features of modern agriculture—control of crops and their genetics, of soil fertility via chemical fertilization and irrigation, and of pests (weeds, insects, and pathogens) via chemical pesticides—are the hallmarks of the green revolution. They have caused four once-rare plants (barley, maize, rice, and wheat) to become the dominant plants on earth as humans became the dominant animal. Indeed, these four annual grasses now occupy, respectively, 67 million hectares, 140 million hectares, 151 million hectares, and 230 million hectares, each, worldwide, which is 39.8% of global cropland. For comparison, the total forested area of the United States, including Alaska, is 298 million hectares. Entire regions of the world now are dominated by virtual monocultures of a given crop. These monocultures have replaced natural ecosystems that once contained hundreds to even thousands of plant species, thousands of insect species, and many species of vertebrates. Thus, agriculture has caused a significant simplification and homogenization of the world’s ecosystems.

The Ecology of Doubling Crop Production

                                                                                   The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) database provides a wealth of information on agricultural activities for individual nations, regions, and the world from 1961 to the present. Using the FAO data, let’s look at the pattern of world food production during this period and the factors that allowed it to almost double. The majority of the food crops grown on the arable lands of the earth are cereals (barley, maize, rice, and wheat), coarse grains, and root crops. For convenience, I will call the sum of these world food production. In 1996, cereals comprised 57% of this total, coarse grains 25%, and root crops 18%. By using this measure, world food production, as estimated from the FAO database almost doubled (increased 1.97-fold) from 1961 to 1996 Comparable patterns, and comparable ecological implications, occur if just cereal production was considered, or if production for just Europe and the United States, for which better data are available, was considered.

Ecological Impacts of Doubling Global Food Production

                                                                                         If these simple extrapolations of past practices are any indication, doubling global food production will triple the annual rates of nitrogen and phosphorus release to the globe. Current rates of agricultural nitrogen production, via both production of fertilizer and cultivation of legume crops, already approximately equal the natural (preindustrial) rate of addition of biologically active nitrogen to the globe (4). Point-source releases of phosphorus are tightly regulated in developed nations because phosphorus is a major limiting nutrient in aquatic ecosystems and increases in its supply rate harm water quality and aquatic foodweb structure. A tripling of global phosphorus supply rates is likely to adversely impact many aquatic ecosystems, especially those that have significant inputs of eroded agricultural soils or phosphorus-rich wastes from livestock and poultry. Nitrogen is much more motile in soil than phosphorus because soil bacteria can convert ammonia to nitrate and nitrite, which are readily leached from soil  Denitrification by bacteria also can convert nitrate into nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. In addition, ammonia, which is both directly applied as fertilizer and created via bacterial degradation of animal waste and other organic compounds, is highly volatile. It is transported via air and deposited on other ecosystems with precipitation. These numerous modes of transport mean that agricultural nitrogen, less than half of which stays in a field or is harvested with a crop, impacts both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems as a eutrophier, and impacts global climate because of is role as a greenhouse gas. Indeed, there is a direct and quantitative link between the amounts of nitrogen in the major rivers of the world and the magnitude of agricultural nitrogen inputs to their watersheds.

Agriculture and the Loss of Ecosystem Services

                                                                                     A doubling of global food production would have major impacts on the ability of nonagricultural ecosystems to provide services .vital to humanity. Existing nonagricultural ecosystems provide, at no cost, pure, drinkable water. In contrast, the groundwater associated with intensive agricultural ecosystems often contains sufficiently high concentrations of nitrite and nitrates or of pesticides and their residues as to be unfit for human consumption. Expensive treatment is required to make it potable. The biodiversity of nonagroecosystems provides many services to agriculture. For instance, the genetic diversity of both wild relatives of crop plants and unrelated organisms is used to increase yields and to reduce impacts of agricultural pests and pathogens. However, the maintenance of the wild biodiversity needed for future development of crops and medicines occurs mainly in nonagricultural ecosystems, the very ecosystems threatened by agricultural expansion and nutrient release. Agriculture depends on soil fertility, fertility created by the ecosystems destroyed when lands are converted to agriculture. Especially on sandy soils, the best way to regain soil fertility lost because of tilling is to allow re-establishment of the native ecosystems. Many agricultural crops depend on the pollination services provided by insects, birds, or mammals that live in nearby nonagricultural ecosystems.Similarly, agricultural crops benefit from biocontrol agents, such as parasitic and predatory insects, birds, and bats, that live in neighboring nonagricultural ecosystems and that decrease outbreaks of agricultural pests. Nonagricultural ecosystems, such as forests on slopes and wetlands, help meter the release of water into streams and rivers, and thus help in flood control. If properly managed, natural ecosystems also can produce a sustainable supply of goods used by society, including timber and fiber, fish, and game.

Ecological Insights into Agricultural Impacts and Sustainability

                                                                                                                      What might be done to decrease the environmental impacts of agriculture while maintaining or improving its productivity, stability, or sustainability? This major challenge will have no single, easy solution. Partial answers will come from increases in the precision and efficiency of nutrient and pesticide use, from advances in crop genetics including advances from biotechnology, and from a variety of engineering solutions. Some additional insights may come from a consideration of the principles that govern the functioning of all ecosystems, including agroecosystems. Ecosystem functioning is known to depend on the traits of the species ecosystem’s contain (their composition), the number of species they contain (their species diversity), and the physical conditions they experience, especially disturbance regimes. A consideration of the principles governing the impacts of composition, diversity, and disturbance on ecosystems may suggest ways to decrease impacts of agriculture or to make it more productive, stable, or sustainable. It is critical to realize that these principles apply within a given ecosystem type. They describe differences in functioning of otherwise identical ecosystems that share the same species pool and differ only in which and how many species they contain. These principles were not derived from, and do not apply to, comparisons among different ecosystem types, such as cattail swamps versus prairies, or mangrove versus upland forest, or tropical versus temperate forests.

Conclusions

                       A hallmark of modern agriculture is its use of monocultures grown on fertilized soils. Ecological principles suggest that such monocultures will be relatively unstable, will have high leaching loss of nutrients, will be susceptible to invasion by weedy species, and will have high incidences of diseases and pests—all of which do occur. Although ecological principles may predict these problems, they do not seem to offer any easy solutions to them. Agriculture, and society, seem to be facing tough tradeoffs. Agricultural ecosystems have become incredibly good at producing food, but these increased yields have environmental costs that cannot be ignored, especially if the rates of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization triple and the amount of land irrigated doubles. The tradition in agriculture has been to maximize production and minimize the cost of food with little regard to impacts on the environment and the services it provides to society. As the world enters an era in which global food production is likely to double, it is critical that agricultural practices be modified to minimize environmental impacts even though many such practices are likely to increase the costs of production.