Demographic and environmental changes

Unit 4
1750-1914
The Modern Era

1. Demographic and environmental changes
   1. Migrations
      1. Extreme hardships persisted – people dreamed of better life by escaping cruelties of home
      2. 1800-1920 50 million Europeans migrated to North/South America
      3. Push factors
         1. Famine – Ireland
         2. Anti-Semitism – Russia
         3. Religious toleration
         4. Poverty
         5. Joblessness
      4. Industrialization
         1. Substantial numbers – especially young adults migrated from country to the city
            1. Upset makeup of traditional family
         2. Movement of middle class away from city to the suburbs
      5. Patterns of immigration
         1. European settler colonies came into conflict with native populations
            1. Also exposed indigenous populations to disease
               1. Not as severe a reaction as Americas
               2. Hawaiians and Maoris
         2. Need for laborers in Americas brought massive immigration from Europe
         3. Religious persecution
            1. Russian pogroms on Jews
   2. End of the Atlantic Slave Trade
      1. Demise from economic and practical considerations
         1. Too expensive to obtain slaves
      2. Growing revulsion among Western countries
         1. Moral, ethical and religious reasons
            1. Greater number of citizens/politicians unwilling to continue
         2. Turning point when Great Britain – 1807/1808 – wanted to make slavery illegal in all parts
            1. During peace settlement following Napoleonic Wars
               1. Great Britain convinces other countries to follow
            2. Eventually spread to Americas
               1. Lastly Cuba and Brazil
               2. America half slave and half free
                  1. Make slave trade illegal first
                  2. Civil War needed to make slavery illegal
         3. Even though illegal – still 2 million traded in 1800s
            1. Islamic states of West Africa still kept slaves – Zanzibar
               1. Close to 5 million
         4. Attempts by West to end slavery
            1. Abolitionist movement
            2. Recolonization in Africa
               1. Sierra Leone – British colony
               2. Liberia – American Colonization Society
            3. Eventually British ships blockaded West African shoreline
               1. Hunted down slave ships
               2. Bombarded coastal fortresses
               3. France and US join haphazardly
         5. Effects of the slave trade on Africa
            1. Some believe it led Africans to rely more on slave trade than before
            2. Loss of population growth
            3. Internal trade relies more on importation of foreign goods
               1. guns, textiles, alcohol
               2. Doesn’t give Africans a chance to produce goods by themselves
            4. Some argue it didn’t have that much of an effect
               1. Small proportion actually taken
            5. Coastal kingdoms become ruled by warlords/merchants
               1. Demanded kings given slaves to satisfy debts
            6. Introduction of guns increased likelihood of intertribal war
               1. Made these wars more lethal
            7. Economic slump after end of slave trade – many regions became quite wealthy
               1. Slump leaves regions open to foreign takeover in 1800s
            8. Antislavery military efforts by British gave Europeans feeling they could intervene
               1. Set precedent that it was OK to conquer
   3. New Birthrate Patterns
      1. Life expectancy rose – population increase
         1. 50% growth to 190 million from 1700-1800
      2. Decreased death rate
         1. improved medical care
         2. ii. nutrition
         3. hygiene sanitation
            1. gains in life expectancy in developing nations still small
   4. Population Revolution in the West
      1. Middle of 18th century – population exploded
         1. End of episodes of epidemic disease
         2. Improved diets – increased consumption of potatoes
         3. Larger number of healthy adults increased birth rates
         4. Lower infant mortality rates
         5. Larger populations equal ready supply of labor
      2. After 1850 rates change again
         1. Majority of population resides in cities
         2. Drop in death rate
            1. More hygienic practices
            2. Louis Pasteur – germ theory
         3. Drop in birth rate
            1. Families don’t need to produce large families to serve as laborers on farm
   5. Population Growth in the Non-West
      1. Population in Latin America doubled in 19th century
      2. China – development of sweet potato
         1. Growing population encouraged need for improved agricultural methods/technology
      3. Japan – improvements in nutrition and medical care
         1. Like China – strain in natural resources
   6. Food supply
      1. More food available
      2. Less chance for famine
   7. Natural Resources
      1. Stealing is cheaper than dealing
         1. Gained incredible wealth
            1. Colonize, drain natural resources, don’t compensate natives
         2. Finished goods then sold to colonies
            1. Not allowed to buy from anyone else
         3. Colonial powers became rich at expense of colonies
      2. Europe had coal/iron ore, but climate restricted what could be grown
         1. Need goods from tropical climates – rubber/cotton
   8. Due to colonization – world now exposed to European values
   9. Landscape changes
      1. Limited raw materials depleted faster than at any time in human history
   10. Increase in pollution
       1. Water supplies contaminated by human sewage and industrial waste
       2. Dark skies from caol-produced smoke
          1. Rickets – disease of the bones – underexposure to sunlight
   11. Population growth
       1. Causes
          1. Greater agricultural efficiency
          2. Medical advances
          3. Gradually rising prosperity
       2. Population of Europe
          1. 175 million in 1800 > 423 million by 1900
   12. Urbanization
       1. Most jobs in or near cities
       2. Old cities increase in size – London passes 1 million, same with Paris, New York
       3. New cities start popping up – especially if near energy source
       4. Conditions dismal
          1. Overcrowded – disease can spread easily
             1. Cholera/tuberculosis
          2. Water and air pollution horrific
             1. Modern sewage systems rare
             2. Heating through coal and wood
   13. Increased general level of prosperity
       1. At first, industrialization –generates incredible wealth quickly, but it sticks to a few people
          1. First 50 years only middle class really benefit
       2. In 1850, when Industrial Revolution essentially over – working class starts to benefit
          1. Benefits start to widen out – slow process
          2. Need reform