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The Alps are the largest and highest European mountain range, stretching in an arc about 1,200 km long by 250 km wide from the western Mediterranean to eastern Austria and as far as Slovenia. Owing to their extent and their central position in Europe, they do not represent solely a geographical challenge to the movement of people and goods (Alpine passes): they are also paradigmatic for the academic perception and cultural and political interpretation of mountains (Alpinism), and accordingly ran…

1. Theology 1.1. Terminology and geographical spreadThe term Calvinism was originally coined in a pejorative sense by J. Westphal, a Hamburg pastor and disciple of Luther. Besides the work and impact of the Geneva Reformer John Calvin (1509-1564), he extended it to include the influence of the Zürich Reformation movement led by Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) and his followers. Thus Calvinist can be used as a synonym of Reformed, for example in the legal language of the Empire after the Peace of Westphalia (1648).Outside Switzerland, Calvinism became influential during the 16t…

1. Definition In contrast to the concept of a land use system, which refers to the technical and operational aspects of agriculture, the term “agrarian constitution” refers to the institutional conditions that constitute the basis for economic activity in rural areas. Both formal norms such as law, contracts, legislation etc., and informal, culturally specific codes of conduct related to the control of goods and transactions (Property) may be considered institutions in an economic sense.Earlier German research on the agrarian constitution grew out of the legal histo…

1. DefinitionThe putting-out system was a form of organization or coordination (production regime) of export-oriented industrial trades and crafts especially in the era of proto-industrialization (13th–19th centuries). The term literally means the “putting out” (German  Vorlegen) of raw material or semi-finished products by a principal (the  Verleger, “merchant-employer”) to a second person, who in turn organized the processing in a further stage of production or did it himself. This second person thus managed the process for the princ…

1. DefinitionIn the early phase of industrialization, the economic growth of the industrial sector was generally extremely lopsided, being concentrated in a few areas, the so-called leading sectors. In the 1950s and 1960s, this observation led to the development of the concept of leading industrial sectors in the field of political economy [4]; [3. 10–14]. Leading industrial sectors are characterized by rapid technological change, which brings strong growth in the productivity of work and capital. In the early modern period, too, high product…

1. Basics In modern commercial law, an open trading company (general partnership) is an association of two or more natural or legal persons to engage in commercial trade under a common brand name. Trading companies in this sense have been widespread since the end of the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, contractual variants are found that make it necessary to distinguish been investors who are liable only to the extent of their investment and fully liable capital bearers, and to recognize that…

1. Income distribution and social inequalitySocial stratification exhibits two primary phenomena. First, in most societies the opportunities and risks in life are distributed unequally among individuals and households. These opportunities and risks include such factors as opportunities for consumption, standard of housing, access to communication services and media, exposure to illnesses, death (Mortality), and insufficient earning capacity in old age. In many societies, income is a central factor on…

1. The role of silver in Chinese foreign tradeFrom the 14th to the 18th centuries, the foreign trade of China was shaped by the shortage of currency metals in the country, especially silver and copper. Among the consequences of this shortage was a diminished price ratio between silver andgold (Precious metals). Whereas in Western Europe, gold was for centuries between 12 and 15 times as valuable as silver by weight, the ratio in China in the early 14th century was 10 : 1, and it fell to 5–6 : 1 in the s…

1. Concept and elementsEconomic growth is the increase of available goods and services in a national economy (Economy, political). It is often indicated as the annual rate of growth of the economy on a per capita basis. The raising of economic performance can arise by means of three processes: (1) growth achieved by a strengthening of investment of the production factors work, capital and land is called extensive economic growth; in this case, a permanent increase in economic performance per capita…

1. Definition The term currency (from Latin currens, “flowing”) originally meant a condition of fluidity; the figurative sense of “circulation” of money was coined in 1690 by John Locke. The German term Währung (from MHG werunge, “guarantee”) refers to a territory's legal regulation of the monetary system, and, like currency, encompasses the definition of the coinage system (coin standard, establishment of the relative values of different coins and the intrinsic precious metal content), the establishment of legal tender, and ex…

1. DefinitionThe phrase  land use system denotes the manner in which productive land is used for agriculture. It includes the way an area is used, for example for timber production (Wood), pasture, meadow, or agricultural cropland. For cropland, the land use system includes the spatial disposition of the plants and crop rotation. In combination with the agrarian constitution and agricultural technology, the land use system determines the parameters of agricultural production.Early modern land use systems are studied in the borderland between history and historic…

1. ConceptThe linen industry produced textiles from flax and hemp (Fiber plants). Linen was the staple product, alongside the luxury goods damask and lace. Because flax and hemp were widely cultivated in the peasant domestic economy, the linen industry was able to develop in many areas of Europe on the basis of the subsistence economy. Quality improvements and specialization by the “commercialization of peasant technologies” [4] saw the industry readily develop into an export trade (Industrial trades and crafts). This was further encouraged by popula…

1. ConceptsMetrology is the study of weights and measures. It includes today international and national organizations devoted to standardizing and exactly determining weights and measures, guaranteeing the exact calibration of measuring equipment, and the training and further training of calibration officials. Metrology arose in the 19th century with the international establishment of the metric system (see below, 3.). Historians also use the term metrologists to refer to authors working in the 1…

1. Scope, structure, and long-term evolution As a rule, the early modern textile industries used plant or animal fibers of local origin to make woven textiles – usually fabrics, but also small articles like kerchiefs and handkerchiefs, veils, ribbons, galoons, braids, lanyards, and buttons. The end products could be left unfinished or bleached, dyed, and/or imprinted or otherwise finished (see Textile technology). In relationship to the clothing trade, the textile industries should be categorized as upstream producers.Until well into the 19th century, in most nationa…

1. SurveyWeaving is a technique for making fabric out of yarn. Two threads are crossed at right angles; the pre-loaded warp threads constitute the base into which the so-called weft is inserted. To serve as a base, the warp threads must be firm and stressable; weft threads on the other hand can be both finer and fuzzier. The choice of weft therefore has enormous influence on the quality of the fabric. In the early modern period, the finished products were usually in the form of cloth or fa…

1. Definition On an aggregated level, real earnings can be thought of as real national income per capita (see Economic growth), and on a disaggregated level usually as real annual household income. In contrast to nominal income, real income is adjusted for changes in the level of prices over time (Value, monetary; Inflation). As a rule, it is represented by an index. Real income is one of the most important statistics for describing material well-being.Real income includes income from all sources – from work as well as from capital and land ownership. Real wages,…

1. DefinitionDown to the present day, in Protestantism  church  discipline – also  moral discipline,  congregational discipline, “brotherly/sisterly admonition” – has served as a collective term for various measures (in the setting of pastoral care and ecclesiastical oversight) intended to maintain the church’s doctrine and order, and to restore a manner of life that is not contrary to Christian norms. (On questions of discipline in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches, see Ecclesiastical law.)The purpose of the church’s disciplinary measures …

1. IntroductionTogether with the linen industry, at the beginning of the early modern period wool processing was the most important branch of the European textile industry using indigenous fibers. Industrial regions often emerged as a result of a “commercialization of rural technologies” [3]. Only the rise of cotton and silk production in the course of the 18th century ended the dominant position of the wool industry. In England, however, in 1801 it still represented the most significant economic sector in terms of value added…

1. Urban 1.1. Status and occupationShopkeepers (German  Krämer) controlled the urban retail trade in goods brought from abroad (Trade, Long-distance). They differed from merchants in having the right to engage in “penny trade,” direct sale of small quantities to consumers. Shopkeepers ranked “above” hawkers (German  Höker, Low German  Haken, Upper German  Gremper, Austrian  Greißler), who hawked food from neighboring farms (see 2. below). Shopkeepers bought their goods at trade fairs and offered them for sale in shops and open street stalls: si…

1. Definition and useUntil well into the 19th century, textiles were products of plant and animal fibers. Most took the form of woven material (Weaving technology), but there were also knotted, braided, and knitted products (see Carpet; Lace; Hosier). The primary use of textiles was in the realm of apparel and household textiles (including bedding, curtains, and tablecloths). But textiles were not just consumer goods (Consumption); they were employed in trade and industry, with emphasis on shipping…

1. Processing stagesUntil the 19th century, textiles were produced mainly from plant or animal fibers (Fiber plants; Wool; Silk) in the form of woven fabrics. In a few small sectors, however, yarns were not woven but knotted, braided, or knitted (see Carpet; Lace; Hosier). Production involved essentially four steps [2]:1) Preparation of the fiber. This involved various cleansing processes, but especially (except for continuous raw silk, which consists of a single unbroken thread) combing, which lays the fibers to be spun parallel to one another.2) Spinning. This transforms t…

1. IntroductionThe communities that inhabit mountain ranges differ markedly from those of their lower-lying surroundings in their agricultural land use systems, their agrarian constitutions, and their social organization. Historically, the exploration and crossing of mountain ranges has often posed a technical challenge (Alpine passes). Ever since Fernand Braudel set the antithetical tone of his history of the Mediterranean by subtitling the first chapter “...tout d’abord, les montagnes!” (“First of all, the mountains!”) [1], it has been clear that the close int…

1. Background Trade denotes the frequent, systematic transfer of property rights or ownership (Property) of goods, as a rule by the use of money (Money economy). Trade can involve the institution of a market but does not have to. Before 1850, the European and extra-European economies were predominantly subsistence economies – that is, the production of agricultural and industrial goods to meet personal needs in the context of a household economy dominated the production and marketing of commercial…

1. DevelopmentCompany settlements provided family housing for members of the workforce of an enterprise, constructed and financed by the firm itself. Usually these settlements were built on land owned by the firm and were managed by the firm. In certain early cases, the industrial plant and the residence were on the same piece of land; soon, however, separation of the workplace from the residence became the norm, although the settlement was built as close as possible to the factory. Besides this …

Ribbons (passements) were used to decorate articles of clothing from the late Middle Ages on, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries. Most were made of silk, but linen, wool, cotton, and mixed fabric were also used.In the later 17th and early 18th centuries, the ribbon loom came into widespread use in ribbon weaving, initially in the form of the multi-stage tread loom, which replaced the single-stage loom (Weaving technology). Although still powered by hand, it enabled the production of multiple ribbons in the same operat…

Cotton is one of the most important materials for the manufacture of apparel in human history. As with silk, although silk always remained a luxury product in the west, a wide separation developed at an early date (from the 15th century) between regions that cultivated and regions that processed cotton. Industrialization of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was first and most strikingly reflected in the cotton industry. Cotton and cotton products were among the most important global commodities at this period.1. Areas of cultivation; global tradeCotton is cultivated in tr…

1. Rural society 1.1. PeasantsAs a rule, peasant groups had access to enough productive land to guarantee at least adequate sustenance for the majority (see Subsistence economy). In the early modern period, the body of peasants (with substantial regional differences reflected in specific terminology) was subdivided in various ways.1) Relationship to the landowner or estate (Manorialism; Gutsherrschaft). The nature of the relationship between peasants and the landowner or estate owner represented a fundamental element of the rural social st…

1. Definition and phases of economic globalization 1.1. DefinitionGlobal economic integration of regional and national economies was a product in the first instance of international trade in products and services along with international movements of capital (see Capital market), work forces, and technological knowledge. If international trade or capital flows increase in relationship to national income, for example, we can speak of a process of economic globalization.Second, global integration is also frequently understood as market integration. The latt…

1. Historical terminologyThe term trading cycle denotes both short-term and long-term fluctuations in the business volume of individual markets and the trading volume between markets, including both goods and financial instruments. Economists frequently considered (and consider) the pre-industrial period as a “prologue to business cycles” (see Industrial cycle [business cycle]) [2. 134]. At least until the 1950s, this was “characterized as a history of crises, which it was widely believed – usually as commercial crises – at a precapitalist st…

1. Long-term evolutionSpinning is a process that produces continuous yarn for weaving from separate fibers (Weaving technology). It involves several operations: extracting and cleaning the fibers from a fiber mass, aligning the fibers by combing, drawing and twisting a fiber strand to form yarn, and finally spooling the yarn. Spinning is a basic requirement in the production of textiles and hence a basic human technology, attested in the Mediterranean area as well as Western and Central Europe sin…

1. Survey and long-term developmentEven more than gold, silver was the most important of the precious metals in the early modern period. Its outstanding significance was due to its use as a basis for the most important types of currency. In addition, it was used for cultic purposes – after the Council of Trent (1545–1563), the Catholic Church stipulated the use of silver to decorate tabernacles and other furnishings of the church interior – for luxury household objects, and for the manufacture of jewelry (see Silversmith).In the early modern period, up to 1850, silver …

1. ConceptA manufactory was a production plant in a preindustrial trade (Industrial trades and crafts), generally belonging to proto-industrial export industries (Proto-industrialization). Members of its labor force worked outside their own household economy under the supervision and coordination of a third person – a manager, a merchant-manufacturer, or a master manufacturer. The centralization of the production process might relate to a single production step (horizontal integration), but verti…

1. DefinitionIn the early modern period, the first sign that a person was a member of the underclass was lack of the kind of rights that membership in an elite estate conferred: in towns, for example, the underclasses did not share in municipal shared governance or enjoy political rights such as access to the privileged craft guilds (see 3.1. below). In rural areas, their rights to use the common land were limited; in the enclosures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries (Common land, enclosure of), they were often left out in the cold.Second, because social status was tied to one…

1. DefinitionThe term  Kaufsystem denotes a production regime, that is, the institutional embodiment of the organization of production and work relations in the export-oriented industrial trades and crafts in the period of proto-industrialization. A Kaufsystem involves a purely market-oriented relationship between independent commercial producers and the merchants who purchased their products and sold them on export markets [6. 202–210]. As soon as the relationship of the largely anonymous purchasing was supplemented by a production order (com…

1. Definition and origins“Industrial region” is a geographical term that describes an area where industrial operations occupy a relatively high percentage of space and there is also a generally high level of export of manufactured industrial trades and crafts. Historically, industrial regions were generally dominated by one industry, or a few related industries. Consequently, these regions reflected the complex organizational requirements of the dominant industry, which was structured very differen…

1. ScopeUntil the advent of industrialization, the weaving industry was one of the most important industrial trades and crafts; only spinning was more important, though hard to quantify (Textile industry). In Bavaria in the 1770s, weaving employed 13.2% of all employed individuals outside of agriculture [2. 44, 449]. In the industrial towns that specialized in textile production for export, this percentage could be significantly greater: in Augsburg in 1610, the weavers constituted a fifth of the taxpayers and two-fifths of the artisan households [1. 21]. For the textile…

A bond is a documented promise to pay, with a stipulated interest rate, term, and method of redemption. Unlike credit or a loan for consumption, a bond is negotiable, that is, it can be resold. In this sense, a bond is similar to a bill of exchange, but the latter usually has a term of less than a year, whereas a bond has a longer term. The distinction between the money market and the capital market is analogous. Ever since the latter was created in the 17th century, bond trading has been its primary activity. The payment promised at final maturity represents a rate of 100%. Both…

1. Raw material and initial processing Silk is an animal fiber extracted from the cocoons of silkworms, which must feed on the leaves of the mulberry tree; in Europe, they can be cultivated only in the Mediterranean region. Mercantilist projects in the 17th and 18th centuries to introduce mulber…

1. DefinitionProto-industrialization refers primarily to industrial production from the 15th through to the early 19th century, that is, the era prior to industrialization proper. In comparison with the technological revolution of the high Middle Ages, the intervening proto-industrial period was probably also characterized by slight technological progress. In addition, proto-industrial production – in contrast to the operations of the independent crafts and trades – was characterized by complex organizational forms, specifically the artisanal system ( Kaufsystem)…

1. ConceptThe term economic cycle here relates to deviations from the long-term track of the growth (Economic growth) of a national economy. Fluctuations in economic activity, measured by the gross economic product of goods, may be seasonal in nature or extend for a period of years. Long-term variations are the so-called Kuznets-cycles, lasting approximately 25 years, observed in particular in connection with migration (Occupational migration; Emigration; Mobility) and development investments in …

1. Definition and state of researchProductivity is defined as the relationship between output quantity and input quantity of production factors (usually labor [Work], capital, and land). For the productivity of individual production factors (factor productivity), a distinction is made between average productivity and marginal product. The average labor productivity of agriculture, for example, is calculated as the relationship between actual agricultural production and the number of hours of labor pe…

1. The concept of professionThe term “profession” (from Latin professio, “public acknowledgment,” “public register,” hence “business publicly avowed”; Industrial trades and crafts; Profession) was adopted in the Romance languages and Middle English, then in German in the 16th century. It has never denoted all occupations, but invariably a specific set of them, the spectrum varying from one European cultural sphere to another. Early modern and contemporary English tends to reserve the term for academic, …

1. Concept and recent research 1.1. IndustryIn contrast to the service sector (banking, trade, insurance) and the primary sector (agriculture, mining), the industrial or secondary sector produces commercial goods. In contrast to the crafts and trades, industry is characterized by large-scale production (Factory [industrial]), which separates it especially from the household economy of the individual craftsman, as well as by the universal employment of processing machines and power machines. This disti…

1. Begriff Das R. lässt sich auf einer aggregierten Ebene als reales Volkseinkommen pro Kopf (vgl. Wirtschaftswachstum) und auf einer desaggregierten Ebene üblicherweise als reales jährliches Haushaltseinkommen betrachten. Im Unterschied zum Nominaleinkommen wird das R. um Veränderungen des Preis-Niveaus im Zeitverlauf bereinigt (Geldwert; Inflation). Es wird in der Regel durch einen Index abgebildet. Das R. ist eine der wichtigsten Maßzahlen zur Beschreibung der materiellen Wohlfahrt.Das R. umfasst Einkommen aus sämtlichen Quellen, d. h. sowohl aus Arbeit als auch au…

1. BegriffDas V. war eine Organisations- bzw. Koordinationsform (Produktionsregime) exportorientierter Gewerbe insbes. in der Ära der Protoindustrialisierung des 13.–19. Jh.s. Der Begriff bezeichnet wörtlich die Ausgabe (Vorlegen, Fürlegen) von Rohmaterial oder Halbfabrikaten durch einen Auftraggeber (den Verleger) an eine zweite Person, die ihrerseits die Verarbeitung bis zu einem nachgelagerten Produktionsstadium organisierte oder selbst durchführte. Diese zweite Person besorgte somit die Verarbeitung für den Auftraggeber im Lohnwerk. Allerdings nahm das V…

1. BegriffIn der frühen Phase der Industrialisierung war das Wirtschaftswachstum des gewerblichen Sektors meist ausgesprochen ungleichgewichtig und auf wenige Branchen, sog. I. L. oder Führungssektoren, konzentriert. Aus dieser Beobachtung wurde in den 1950er/1960er Jahren in der Entwicklungs-Ökonomie der Begriff der I. L. entwickelt [4]; [3. 10–14]. I. L. sind dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sich in ihnen ein rascher technologischer Wandel vollzieht, der eine starke Steigerung der Produktivität von Arbeit und Kapital nach sich zieht. Die hohe Produktivität v…

1. BegriffK. bezeichnet die Abweichungen vom langfristigen Wachstumspfad (Wirtschaftswachstum) einer Volkswirtschaft. Fluktuationen der wirtschaftlichen (= wl.) Aktivität, gemessen am gesamtwl. Güterausstoß, können saisonaler Natur sein oder sich über mehrere Jahre erstrecken. Langfristige K.-Schwankungen sind die sog. Kuznets-Zyklen von ca. 25-jähriger Dauer, die man v. a. im Zusammenhang mit Wanderung (Arbeitsmigration; Emigration; Mobilität) und Erschließungsinvestitionen in den USA zwischen dem zweiten Viertel des 19. Jh.s und dem frühen 20. Jh.…

1. BegriffN. bezeichnet die Art und Weise der landwirtschaftlichen Verwertung einer Nutzfläche. Hierzu zählt die Art der Nutzung eines Areals, z. B. für die Holz-Gewinnung, als Weide, Wiese oder Ackerfläche. Hinsichtlich der Ackerfläche bezeichnet das N. die räumliche Anordnung der Pflanzen sowie die Fruchtfolgen. Zusammen mit der Agrarverfassung und der Landtechnik setzt das N. die Rahmenbedingungen landwirtschaftlicher Produktion.Die nzl. N. werden im Grenzbereich von Geschichtswissenschaft und histor. Geographie erforscht, denn oft erfordert die A…

B. ist einer der wichtigsten Werkstoffe zur Herstellung von Kleidung in der Menschheitsgeschichte. Ebenso wie bei der Seide, die allerdings in der westl. Welt immer ein Luxusprodukt blieb, stellte sich früh, d. h. seit dem 15. Jh., eine weiträumige Trennung zwischen B. anbauenden und B. verarbeitenden Regionen ein. Die Industrialisierung des späten 18. und frühen 19. Jh.s spielte sich zuerst und besonders ausgeprägt im B.-Gewerbe ab. B. und B.-Produkte zählten in dieser Zeit zu den wichtigsten Welthandelsgütern.1. Anbauregionen, WelthandelB. wird in tropischen und subt…

1. Einkommensverteilung und soziale UngleichheitSoziale Schichtung weist zwei Hauptgesichtspunkte auf: Erstens besteht der Sachverhalt, dass in den meisten Gesellschaften Lebenschancen und -risiken zwischen Individuen bzw. Haushalten ungleich verteilt sind. Solche Lebenschancen und -risiken betreffen u. a. Konsum-Möglichkeiten, Wohnstandard, Zugang zu Kommunikationsdiensten und Medien, Ausgesetztsein gegenüber Krankheiten, Tod (Mortalität) und ungenügender Arbeitsfähigkeit im hohen Alter. Das Einkommen ist in vielen Gesellschaften eine zentrale Grö…