Revision notes:
History of Industrialisation started with the establishment of first factories, but this idea is somehow biased.
Proto-Industrialisation
Even before factories began to appear in England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market by the village artisans and peasants. Many historians now refer to this phase of industrialisation as proto-industrialisation.
In other words, the period of industrialization before the first factories came up in Europe is termed as proto-industrialization. This period was marked by merchants from towns getting products made in villages.
World trade had expanded at a very fast rate during the 17th and 18th century.
Features of proto-industrialization in Britain (Why did the poor peasants and artisans of the countryside begin working for merchants) : The proto-industrial system was a network of commercial exchanges. It was controlled by merchants.
- Merchants from towns and cities began moving to the countryside supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market.
- Merchants offered advances for producing clothes for them at a time when open fields and commons were disappearing in villages. Small plots of land were not enough to meet the need of a growing population.
- Cottagers and poor peasants could not gather firewood, berries, vegetables, hay and straw from the open fields and commons. Therefore, the peasants were looking for some additional sources of income. So, when merchants came around and offered advances to produce goods for them, peasant households eagerly agreed.
Reasons for focus of merchants on villages: There were powerful trade and craft guilds in urban areas. These associations controlled competition and prices and prevented entry of a new player in the market. Because of them, it was difficult for new merchants to set business in towns.
TRADE GUILDS.- These were the associations of producers that trained the craftspeople, maintained control over production, regulated prices and production and also restricted the entry of new merchants into the trade. They had been granted the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products by the rulers. It was therefore difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. Therefore these merchants turned to the countryside.
Results of proto-industrialisation:
- By working for the merchants, they could remain in the countryside and continue to cultivate their small plots.
- Goods were produced by the artisans within their family farms, not in factories.
3. Income from proto-industrial production supplemented their shrinking income from cultivation.
4. It also allowed them a fuller use of their family labour resources.
5. Within this system a close relationship developed between the town and the countryside. Merchants were based in towns but the work was done mostly in the countryside.
The finished product passed through several stages and reached the markets of London. From London, the products were supplied to the international market.