j.m.w. turner, rain, steam, speed (1844) · lecture 10.3: the great divergence why did europe...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Lecture 10.3:The Great Divergence
Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational skills?
J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844)
![Page 2: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Preindustrial ecology
• Food, fiber, fuel, and shelter
• Land, labor, and machines
• Wind and water
Scarcity of land and energy created an ecological roadblock throughout the Old World
Joseph Wright, A Blacksmith’s Shop (1771)
![Page 3: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Europe’s ecological escape:(1) colonies
• 150,000 tons of sugar per year imported into Britain
• This equals 571,842,460,000 calories for human consumption, enough to feed 627,000 people 2,500 calories a day for a year
• 1 acre of land produces 471 kg wheat, or 235 kg flour, yearly
• Since 1 kg flour provides 3,400 calories, 1 acre provides 799,000 calories a year
• 150,000 tons of sugar = 715,000 acres of wheat
• The extra calories your oxen need from hay raises this to 858,000 acres
• The use of the three-field system (letting land lie fallow to recoup nutrients) raises it again, to 1,215,500 acres
Q: Exactly how much land in Britain did Caribbean sugar imports make available for other purposes?
![Page 4: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
Europe’s ecological escape:(2) coal
• Population growth
• Deforestation
• Coal deposits
• Steam engines
• Railroads
Fortuitous ecological factors gave Britain advantages over China that solved the energy bottleneck plaguing all parts of the Old World
![Page 5: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Steam engines
![Page 6: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Textile mills
![Page 7: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Smokestacks
![Page 8: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
China’s downward ecological spiral
• Population growth
• Deforestation
• Land pressure
• Price inflation
• Partible inheritance
• Rootlessness and revolt
![Page 9: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Taiping Rebellion
• The ecological roots of rootlessness and revolt
• Population explosion vs. scholar-gentry leadership
![Page 10: J.M.W. Turner, Rain, Steam, Speed (1844) · Lecture 10.3: The Great Divergence Why did Europe industrialize first given China’s comparable economic resources and organizational](https://reader031.vdocuments.site/reader031/viewer/2022013023/5ffd1cdf4d951b38473ae3e4/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Showdownat
Guangzhou
Opium War (1839-42)
• A symptom, not a cause, of China’s decline
• Not only dynastic but civilizational