Key Concept New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production

Meaning… Although almost all of the world’s work was agricultural production, major changes occurred in agricultural labor, the systems and types of manufacturing, gender and social structures and environmental processing Farmers continued to increase agricultural productivity with new crops, and new methods Economic growth also depended on new forms of manufacturing and new commercial patterns, especially long distance trade Political and economic centers within regions shirted and merchant social status tended to rise Demographic growth, even in the Americas was restored and surged in some areas, in part due to the introduction of New World crops New forms of coerced and semicoerced labor emerged in Europe, the Americas and Africa which affected ethnic and racial ideas and gender roles

A. Little Ice Age Beginning in the 14 th century, there was a decrease in mean temperatures around the world that lasted util the 19 th century, contributing to changes in agricultural practices and a contraction of settlements in parts of the Northern Hemisphere

B. Changes in Agriculture Peasant labor increased and changed in some areas, such as frontier settlements in Russian Siberia Increase in the production of silk textiles in China and cotton textiles in India Slavery in Africa continued both the traditional incorporation of slaves into households and the export of slaves to both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean The growth of plantation economies increased the demand for slaves in the Americas Colonial economies in the New World depended on coerced labor—such as chattel slavery, indentured servitude, encomienda and Hacienda systems and the Spanish adaptation of the Inca mit’a

C. New Social Hierarchies Imperial conquests created new elites, such as the Manchus in China, creole elites in Spanish America, European gentry, urban commercial entrepreneurs in all major port cities Existing political and economic elites fluctuated as they confronted new challenges in affecting the policies of powerful monarchs—the nobility in Europe, the zamindars in the Mughal Empire, the daimyo of Japan Some gender and family restructuring took place—as Europeans had smaller families, and European traders depended on the women of SE Asia for conducting trade Massive demographic changes in the Americas resulted in racial classifications—mestizo, mulatto, creole