Angus Maddison The World Economy. Volume I: A millenal perspective, OE !

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hapter ": The impact o% Western !evelopment on the rest o% the World, &###'&()# Western Europe was, economically, at the point of year 1000 below North Africa and Asia. By the 14th century Europe caught hina, the world leader, by 1!"0 its le#els of income and producti#ity were more than twice as high as in the rest of the world and by 1$1% it was more than si& times than the rest of the world if we ta'e also its Western (ffshoots. )n this chapter are analised four case histories for better understanding of this ascension. *he +enetian ,epublic was the richest and the most successful West European economy form the 11th to the 1-th century. .ortugal was ne#er as rich as +enice but de#eloped ship design and na#igational techni/ues wich made possible to open up new routes and commerial contact with Africa and Asia beeing a pioneer of the European e&pansion into the Atlantic. *he Netherlands was the European leader in terms of per capita income between 1-00 and 1!"0 with a high degree of international openness and specialisation and a #ery large trading empire in Asia. *he 0nited 1ingdom is the last case that followed the 2utch model of of international specialisation and commercial de#elopment, built a much bigger colonial empire, and was a pioneer in industrial and transport technology. *his Western ascension in#ol#ed #iolence against other parts of the world or e#en between them 3+enetia #s. 4enoa, .ortugal #s. 5pain, 5pain #s. Netherlands, etc.6. )n the ninth century, after the fall of the ,oman Empire, Europe was confronted with a ci#ilisation that had retrogressed to the purely agricultural stage wich no longer nedeed commerce, credit and regular e&change for the maintenance of the social fabric 3because of the collapse of a large scale cohesi#e political unit which was ne#er resurrected, and its replacement by a fragmented, fragile and unstable polity7 disappearance of urban ci#ilisation and redominance of self8sufficient, relati#ely isolated and ignorant rural communities where a feudal elite e&tracted an income in 'ind from a ser#ile peasantry7 the #irtual disappearance of trading lin's between Western Europe, North Africa and Asia6. Between the years 1000 and 1900, Western Europe:s population rew faster than in any tother part of the world. *he nordic countries had a significant growing comparing with the ;editerranean ones. All was possible due to the hea#y plough, open fields, the new integration of agriculture and herding, three field rotation, modern horse harness, nailed horseshoes and whipple tree had combined into a total system of agrarian e&ploitation by the year 1100 to pro#ide a <one of peasant prosperity stretching across Northern Europe from the Atlantic to the 2nieper. *he three=field system increased food security, a part of the agricultural output wnet as input into clothing production, wine, beer and fodder crops for an increased horse population. *here appeared a reginal specialisation in food production. *he impro#ements permited a

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dynamic Europe and an e&pansionist one 3te&tiles, mining, metallurgy, ban'ing, intellectual life, commerce6. *he wars defined the national identities. The Venetian *epu+lic +enice played a ma>or role in reopening the ;editerranean economy by de#eloping lin's between Northen Africa, Western Europe, Northen Europe and sustaining a commercial capitalism. *he republic was dominated by a merchand capitalist elite that created political and legal institutions which guaranteed property rights and the enforceability of contracts. )t de#eloped foreign e&change and credit mar'ets, ban'ing and accountancy being a tolerant and fairly secular state. +enetian diplomacy was highly professional, pragmatic, opportunistic and dedicated to the pursuit of its commercial interests. *he impro#ements regardin the ships and the introduction of the compass made possible to sail all year round. +enice had also some manufacturing acti#ities including producing goods for local use and e&port. *he glass industry was here at it:s home. *he spectacles also increased the producti#ity of artisants and scholars. As same as glass were sil', products of +enetian goldsmiths, msaicists, woodcar#ers and decorati#e artists who were in hea#y demand in turning the inside of churches, ci#ic monuments and pri#ate palaces into wor's of art. *he +enetian go#ernment regulated the production of sil' to maintain /uality, 'eep out hte competitors and reduce the ris' of industrial espionage. 5il', satin and #el#et were of the highest /uality and made a sustantial contribution to +enetian e&ports. *he boo' production offered employment to professional scribes, boo'binders, specialists in ornamented calligraphy and illustration. After the 4utenberg:s i#ention of printing, +enice became the principal )talian typographical centre being also one of the biggest in Europe and in#igorating the intellectual life of Europe. +enice had in rete and yprus sugar plantations that represented a ma>or product of its economic acti#ity. Near 1900 the +enetian ascension lost its powers because of .ortugal:s inno#ations in 5hipbuilding techonlogy 3rigging of round ships and the de#elopment of firearms6 and the portuguese competition in the sugar industry. )t:s e&pansion after 1900 was slow remaining one of the richest parts of )taly and Europe untill it was o#erta'en by the Netherlands in the 1?th century. ,ortugal .ortugal emerged from the Arab rule between 114? when @isbon was captured and 1"4$ when full so#ereignty was established in an area corresponding roughly to its present boundaries. *he millitary aristocracy and the church became the ma>or landowners. *he interests of the state and of the church were closely lin'ed so that the crown was able to nominate bishops and to collect ecclesiastical ta&es. .ortugal had three ma>or ad#antages in de#eloping its o#erseas commerce and empireA the geographical position, the ability to absorb the >ews and the crown sponsorship of Atlantic e&ploration, research and na#igation techonlogy, training of pilots and documenation of maritime e&perience in the form of route maps with compass bearings and carography. *he heritage of sla#ery when in other parts of Western Europe dissapeared permited the support of its business interests 3the sla#es trade6. *he disco#ery of ;adeira with fertile lands permited the de#elopment of sugar industry and hand in hand with the usage of new techni/ues .ortugal beacame the leader in the sugar industry. ;adeira was also a source of timber among wheat and wine. *he A<ores disco#ered in mid=Atlantic were a useful staging post for the "

Atlantic trade and augmented .ortuguese 'nowledge of na#igation in the Atlantic among ape +erde and 5ao *ome and .rincipe. )n 14!" Elmina fort was build on the coast of what is now 4hana being a centre of gold trade and the biggest source of income for the crown. Bor the trip to ape Corn were made preparations and e&perimental #oyages to test the feasibility of a passage to )ndia. *he e&plorators made possible an increase of the economic power of .ortugal by displacing a part of the Asian trades who had supplied spices to ,ed 5ea and .ersian 4ulf ports to +enetian, 4enoese and atalan traders. Among spice, sil', porcelain and cotton te&tiles were #ery important. *he hinese ships were more e#ol#ed than the restA their ships had many masts, trans#erse laths of bamboo attached to the sail fabric permitted precise and stepwise reefing, big ships had compartiments so that a partially damaged ship would not sin' and it could be repaired at the sea and they had up to -0 cabins so that the crew /uarters were more comfortable. )n this time. hina tried to pro#e its moral and cultural superiority, to ci#ilise the barbarians and to enhance its security so that the go#ernment e&pected to play a leading role in de#eloping and super#ising the trade relations for a chinese hegemony. *he purpose of the chinese #oyages was to establish good relations by presentation of gifts and to escort ambassadors or rulers to ro from hina, the search for new medical plants and african types of li#estoc'. By the year 19-? the hinese authorities eneded the prohibition on pri#ate trade but banned trade with Dapan gi#ing the .ortuguese an unbelie#ably fa#ourable window of opportunity. *he .ortuguese e&panded into Dapan but the Desuit missions and the replication of this success by the 5panish authorities who ga#e to Dapan the impression that 5pain might ant to ta'e o#er as they had in the .hilippines, made Dapan hostile to .ortuguese missionary acti#ities and made contact with english and dutch traders that had no religious ambitions. )n Bra<il, the .ortuguese found a stone age society so that they bought African sla#es to sustain their economic acti#ities. *he sugar industry in Bra<il was growing but after 1-90 felt because of the lower prices and the competition from the araibbean. *he disco#ery of gold and diamond mines in the 1-$0:s made possible a considerable immigration from Europe and the opening of new opportunities. When the gold production declined and the Asian trade had fallen, .ortugal lost its control o#er the territories. )n Bra<il more than a half of the people were sla#es. *he independence came smoothly by the @atin American standards. *he british became the protectors of Bra<il in the first phase and then they obtained e&tra=territorial rights and tariff preferences. Bra<il has fallen into a oligarhic republic ruled by the military and then the rule of colonels pre#ailed at the local le#el. *he independence came with big disparities in income, welath, education and economic producti#ity, ine/ualities of income and opportunity closely associated with ethnicity, softer political transitions and a easy assimiation of cosmopolitan mi& of the original .ortuguese settlers, the descendants of African sla#es, later immigrants from )taly, Dapan, 4ermany and @ebanon.

The -etherlands .

Brom the 1"th century onwards, Blanders and Brabant were the most prosperous part of the Northern Europe being tha ma>or centres of the woolen te&tile industry. Blanders was also hea#ily urbanised and much of its food was imported. *he 2utch ,epublic was the unification of se#en pro#inces in 19?$=!0. *he dutch made trade in Northern Europe being in an constant competition with the Canseatic @eague. *he ship impro#ements made posibile for the 2utch fleet to be the biggest in Europe. (ne of the important 2utch shipping acti#ity was herring fisheries. *he techonolgical e#olution permited an increased producti#ity. *he con/uest of nature by contorlling water played a ma>or role in the 2utch agricultural de#elopment and had important social implications. (nly a small part of the population was constrained by feudal restrictions. .easant were freer than anywhere. *ransport of peat, hay, wheat cattle, timber, building material and other hea#y freight became a good deal cheaper in the middle of the 1? th century because of the creation of a networ' of canals e/uipped with tow=paths. *he political change opened possibilities for a wolrwide e&pansion in 2utch shipping acti#ity to the detriment of .ortugal and 5pain. *he 2utch ,epublic won by the immigrants from Blanders and Brabant that brought capital, s'ills and international contacts. *he 2utch economy was highly specialised, importing a large part of its food, hiring mercenaries to fight its wars, and concentrating its labour force in high producti#ity sectors. )ts flat terrain permitted substantial use of wind power. Cigh density of urban settlement, good ports and internal waterways reduced transport and infastructure costs, cheapened go#ernment ser#ices and reduced the need for in#entories. 2utch institutions fa#oured economic growth. ,eligious tolerance encouraged s'illed immigration. .roperty rights were clear and transfers facilitated by maintenance of cadastral registers. An efficient legal system and sound ban'ing fa#oured economic enterprise. *a&es were high but le#ied on e&penditure rather than income. *his encouraged sa#ings, frugality and hard wor'. *hus the 2utch were a model of economic efficiency with ob#ious lessons for British policy. But the cost of this independece was high. .rotectionist policies as *he Na#igation Acts in Britain and other such pro#isions made by Brance damaged the 2utch interests. )n the 1!th century the 2utch ,epublic lost its dynamism being pushed to the sidelines by Brance, .ortugal and the 0nited 1ingdom. /ritain Brom year 1000 to 1900 the british national identity was ambigousA the monarchy and the ruling elite were Anglo=Brench warlords whose property and income deri#ed initially from territorial con/uests in England and Brance. *he resources came from tribute recei#ed from feudal #assals and their ser#ile peasantry. *he church acted as an instrument of social control. *he trade was made by foreign merchands and the economic acti#ity was small. 0ntill the 14 th the dominant language was french. *here were se#eral stages in the creation of a modern nation state which fa#oured the interests of merchant capitalism. *he old feudal fragmentation of power and resources was replaced by a much more centralised system. Cenry +)), a Welshman who emerged as #ictor in the ci#il war in 14!9, confiscated the estates of many of the feudal aristocracy in fa#our of the ascendant gentry. Ce eliminated the right of the nobility to 'eep armed retainers. *hereafter their country houses were no longer fortified. Cis son, Cenry +))), bro'e with the .apacy, created a national church which practised a lu'ewarm #ersion of 0

protestantism, abolished the monastic orders and sei<ed their property 3including about a /uarter of English land6. Cis daughter Eli<abeth dilapidated the property of the bishops. *he great bul' of these ecclesiastical assets fell into the hands of a secular elite of merchants and gentry, through royal sales and largesse. )n the 1? th century nepotism was replaced by cronysm. Now professional comeptence was increasingly rele#ant in public appointments. 5ome ta&es imposed to the farmers were abolished, the intellectual life was #ery #igurous and increasingly secular in the 1?th century, the restoration of monarchy was interested in promoting research into practical and theoretical wor' on na#igation. Brom 1-th to 1$th century, Britain:s commercial policy was dominated by mercanitlism. After the 1?th century, when the population and the income per capita grew faster, there were some significant changes in the British economic structure in decline of the share of the labour force in agriculture and a big rise in industry and ser#ices. By war, Britain too' what Brance and the 2utch lost in Asia and Africa e&tending control o#er )ndia and establishing a pri#ileged commercial presence in @atin America. )n the 1$ th century Britain rose more and more due tot the lac' of wars. *he trade became free and the colonialsim fa#oured British e&ports. *he in#etments, in#entions, inno#ations made of Britain one of the most de#eloped countries in the world in the 1$th and "0th century. But the wars in the "1th century changed the economics of the empireA Britain withdraw from most of its colonies. )n this time the british had impacts there where they had power helping indirectlly those controlled terriotries to de#elop 3Northern America, )ndia, hina, the aribbean6. ,ersonal o+servations and opinions As we can see from this presentation we can obser#e some common measures made by those states in their history for their de#elopment. All of them had a liberal society with tolerant policy to their inhibiants. Cumans struggle e#ery day for more freedom and we ha#e seen that in such conditions people can de#elop themsel#es and so the community, the country. )n the case of the 2utch ,epublic the people that wanted more freedom came with s'ills, 'nowledge and a great will to become richer. )n the states were public freedoms and a fa#orable legislati#e framewor' didn:t e&isted there was no such e#olution li'e the one in the countries presented abo#e. *he abolition of ta&es in Britain permited the labour force in agriculture to produce for themsel#es and for their prosperity. *he opportunities created by the go#ernment in the research field widened the opportunities for better results in achie#ing welfare 3.ortugalA na#igation research =E e&ploration =E resources =E power and more e&poration =E more resources =E more power. 5ame goes for Britain or the 2utch ,epublic6. Another interesting fact is that a latter country that tries to de#elop has bigger chances to do this because it can profit from the actual le#el of de#elopment of an actual de#eloped countryA the ,oman Empire e#en if dissapeared and left behind a decline in all the fields of a society was a source for de#elopment for +enice. .ortugal got powerfull by the same methods that did +enice but starting from the +enice le#el and by profiting from its indi#idualFspecific ad#antages 3the geographic position permited the e&pansion in the Atlantic, .acific, 5outhern Africa, 5outhern America 8 +enice couldn:t do that6. Britain used its potential on a dutch model to grow and it did by profitig by its number of inhibitants, geographical position, anti= )

europeanism, anti=catholicism, the wish to be an referee in the international conflicts and to act as an e/ilibrant element in the balance of international relations. +iewing the history of those countries we can see that this struggle between the countries for welfare resulted in more and more de#eloped countries and that e#ery time it was space for more de#elopment in any field of the society, go#ernment, economy, culture. Also e#ery time a de#eloped country or the most de#eloped country ari#ed at some point where a crisis begunA at the ,oman Empire it was the lu&ury that decame decadent, at +enice the lac' of space for bigger de#elopment and bigger power, at .ortugal the lac' of new #iews on how to use that what they had 3territories, money, sla#es6, at the 2utch ,epublic the lac' of moderation and at Britain the lac' of economical stability 31$"$ crisis6 and war e&perience 3being isolated on a island and tring to act as a referee on the international stage seemed not to be good6. None of those countries couldn:t remain the most de#eloped countries in the world at their time. ;aybe that for a continous de#elopment, without crisis at some points in the history, it is necessary a e/uilibrium in all what a country could ha#e and it has to ha#e allA enough, fertile and di#ersified territory, openess to sea, a good raport of teritorry surfaceFinhibitants, education, research, capabilities to produce goods, trade, good policies, e/ual distribution of goods and access to public facilities, strong economy, producti#e high employment rate, etc. With other words, it may be needed a good raport between all the factors on that de#elopment depends.