write an essay on the agrarian revolution
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Answer:
AGRARIAN REVOLUTION
*INTRODUCTION: The term Agrarian revolution implies the great changes that took place in Agricultural methods of England during the second half of the seventeenth century and the first half of the eighteenth century. In the course of this revolution: 1. The open field system disappeared 2. The rotation of crops was introduced 3. Scientific methods were applied to Agriculture 4. There was a series of new inventions and discoveries. This revolution not only changed the landscape of England but also the lifestyle of its people.
*THE CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION: There are five major causes that led to the Agrarian revolution. They are as follows: 1. Waste of land:…show more content…
The poor villagers lost their lands as they were unable to meet the cost of fencing and were driven to the cities in search of new jobs. England, by the end of the century changed from rural to an urban country.
2. Improved methods of growing crops: Charles Townshend experimented with crop-rotation and introduced the four-field system. He suggested that by growing two kinds of grains, turnips and clover could enrich the soil. He also added that by this method, the crops would either absorb or add nutrients to the soil. By this method, the farmers did not have any part of the land to be left fallow. And even fodder was available to the livestock. This system was popularized by Thomas Coke and he used the bones as the manure to enrich the soil.
3. Improved methods of breeding livestock: Robert Bakewell experimented with the livestock and produced the “Longhorn” breed of cattle. He improved the breeds of cattle, sheep and horses. The breeds of sheep were raised for meat and wool as well. Bakewell’s new breed of sheep was “Leicester” sheep. Charles Colling followed Bakewell’s method and produced the “shorthorn” breed. There were also other pioneers in cattle breeding and rearing such as George Culley and John Ellman.
4. Invention of new farm equipments: The ancestor of farm machinery is the machine which drills holes into the soil for sowing seeds. This was invented by Jethro Tull.
Answer:
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Explanation:
The common theme that the two books discuss in detail is the development of agriculture. Many scholars have suggested a number of theories about the historical development of agriculture. Probably, there was a slow and gradual change from the hunter-gatherer to the agricultural society after a long period of time during which some crops were planted deliberately while some were collected in the bush. Despite the local climate change favoring the explanation of the beginning of agriculture in Levant, the point is that farming was invented else where at least three times thus suggesting that some of the social factors might have been quite instrumental.
In the book “ways of the world” the author suggests that agriculture comes second as a great human process after globe settlement, this implies that agricultural practices have come a long way in evolution. The book points out that agriculture begun nearly twelve thousand years ago with major changes since the era of the earliest cultivation. Historians point out to the Middle East fertile portion as the earliest site where there was a well organized form of agriculture. The same sentiments are echoed by William and Robert in their book entitled the “human web”. The human web gives a similarity to ways of the world in the perspective of spread of agriculture as well (Strayer 55).
The two books have also articulated the issue of religion and the spread of agriculture. The medieval Islamic world for instance in the 8th century passed through a very important transition in agriculture making the historians to call the era “Arab agricultural revolution”. The authors suggest that these changes were brought about by a number of factors such as diffusion of various plants and crops along the Muslim trade paths. Also, the spread of more advanced agricultural practices as well as the agricultural economic systems brought about efficiency and high returns in terms of yields (McNeil and Robert 77).
Change in agricultural practices contributed to major changes in economy, population levels and distribution, agricultural productivity and vegetation cover among many other aspects of life in the Islamic community. An expansive area was covered by Muslim traders facilitating crop diffusion and farming practices across the Islamic region. Historians William and Robert argue that the spread initiated various vital crops through Al-Andalus together with their cultivation practices. Some of the very vital crops that were used in the transfer included cotton, rice and sugarcane. Also transferred included a number of fruit trees, vegetables and nut trees.
In this era were also some of the agricultural technologies such as crop rotation systems use of agricultural manuals and irrigation systems. A complex irrigation system made use of water mills, norias, reservoirs, dams and water raising machines. Some of the technological and infrastructural technological systems went on from the roman times and some came as a result of Muslim presence. Later on the Muslims transferred cultural qualities and highly advanced agricultural practices to western India and Turkic lands (Strayer 80).
Although the two books share the same sentiments about the agricultural revolution in the Islam world, there is a striking difference about in how the book ways of the world discusses agriculture in Europe. Robert Strayer says that the European agriculture underwent various major changes during the middle age. Tools like the plow and scythe were improved from the classical versions and also there was a three field system whereby crops were rotated. Some of the tools that were increasingly used were the moldboard plow and the wheeled plow. There was also breeding of the draft horses so that they could be used as animals in most parts of Europe. The oxen also continued to be used as working animals as well. There was also high adoption of the metal horse shoes.