"Even before factories began to dot the landscape in England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market in the country side."Elucidate
Answers
In Europe the merchants from the towns moved to the countryside in the 17th and 18th centuries. They gave money to the peasants and artisans and persuaded them to produce for an international market.
The demand for goods increased with the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies in different parts of the world. The merchants could not expand production in the towns because the urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful over there.
The guilds were associations of producers. They provided training to the craftsmen, controlled production, regulated the prices and competition. They restricted the entry of new people in the trade.
The guilds were given monopoly rights by the rulers to produce and trade in specific products. So it was difficult for new merchants to set up their business in towns.
Therefore, they turned to the countryside. The poor peasants and artisans who had lost their common lands started working for the merchants. In this way, they indirectly served the international market.
a. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, merchants from the towns in Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market.
b. With the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies in different parts of the world, the demand for goods began growing. But merchants could not expand production within towns because here urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful.
c. These were associations of producers that trained craftspeople, maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices, and restricted the entry of new people into the trade.
d. Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products. It was therefore difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns.
e. So they turned to the countryside. In the countryside poor peasants and artisans who had lost their common lands began working for merchants and produced goods and indirectly served the international market.