1. Chapter 2 The Historical Development of Capitalism
Feudalism and the Birth of Capitalism
The Emergence and Nature of Capitalism
The Industrial Revolution
Colonialism: Capitalism on a World Scale
Summary

2. The Importance of Historical Processes
The present economic landscape can only be understood as the result of an historical process
Decisions to site production facilities “yesterday” produce the spatial pattern that is the foundation for trade and patterns of consumption today
We can visualize these processes at various geographic scales

3. Feudalism and the Birth of Capitalism
From hunting & gathering to domesticated agriculture (animals and crops)
Slave-based empires (e.g. Roman) and their feudal successors (ca. 5th Century)
Feudalism dominated economic and social relations in Europe to ca. 15th century
Settlement in North America did not succeed feudalism, but was capitalist in character from the outset

4. Characteristics of Feudalism
Tradition shaped life and work
In Europe the church was the dominant political and ideological institution
Aristocratic land-owners formed the ruling class, who extracted rents from tenant farmers (often serfs) in low productivity agriculture
Feudal cities – often fortified – with guilds – markets, where universities were established
A hierarchy of feudal towns, mostly small trading centers, with negligible interregional trade

5. Serfs working on their “lords” farm, not earning wages, but
paying a large
share of their
output as “rent”
in return for
the right to
keep some
output for
their own
consumption
FIGURE 2.2

6. Carcassonne France—a classic example of feudal urbanization
FIGURE 2.3
Carcassonne France—a classic example of feudal urbanization

7. Feudal Regions & The Beginnings of Trade
FIGURE 2.4
Agricultural innovations, bubonic plague, the European Renaissance

8. Characteristics of Early Capitalism
Markets: buyers and sellers of goods & services at agreed upon prices
Market types: perfect competition – perfect monopoly – oligopoly (and other types)
The profit incentive = revenue – cost > 0
Dynamic behavior of buyers and sellers, including incentives from innovation in products and production processes
Class relations -- merchants & burghers vs. the old aristocracy-- Unlike feudal Europe, workers under capitalism must sell their labor power to survive. Thus the process of commodification extended to include labor—as well as to most goods and services

9. The Emergence and Nature of Capitalism – rise of trade-based city states – links to old trade routes to the Far East and in Europe
FIGURE 2.7

10. Alternative Models of Competition
Barriers to Entry - High
Barriers to Entry - Low

11. Attributes of Alternative Market Types
“Pure” Monopoly

12. Early Capitalism, Continued
Finance: replacing barter with money, and institutions to handle and regulate money
Uneven development as an inevitable outcome, historically persistent, at scales ranging from local to global
Long-distance trade – fueled by transport innovation – allowing regional specialization based on principle of comparative advantage
Ideological change – printing/reading, religion, science, the Enlightenment – “a worldview that stressed secularism, individualism, rationality, progress, and democracy.”

13. Guttenburg’s Printing Press
FIGURE 2.10
Guttenburg’s Printing Press

14. Early Capitalism, Continued
Feudal empires (e.g. Holy Roman Empire, Figure 2.13) with multiple nation-states
Replaced feudal monarchies with nation-states (Fig. 2.14)
Nation states supporting development of capitalism through regulations, public investment and programs (e.g. education, defense, trade protectionism…).
BUT: these institutions do not preclude transnational capitalist development, evident in this era of globalization – Key quote page 35

15. Fig. 2.14: European Boundaries after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648)
FIGURE 2.14

16. The Industrial Revolution
Industrialization as a process with multiple transformations in inputs, output, and technologies. Driven by:
Harnessing inanimate sources of energy
(Figure 2.16), wood-coal-petroleum & gas
Technological innovation (Table 2.1)
Rising Productivity (Figure 2.17)
Spatial diffusion of the Industrial Revolution

17. Watt’s steam engine – 1769 – a key driver of the Industrial Revolution
FIGURE 2.15
Watt’s steam engine – 1769 – a key driver of the Industrial Revolution

18. Spread of the Industrial Revolution

19. Productivity (Output/Unit Input
Production (Output)
Versus
Productivity (Output/Unit Input
Which is graphed here?
FIGURE 2.17

20. FIGURE 2.20

21. Global Diffusion of the Industrial Revolution

22. Labor exploitation In the Industrial Revolution What about today in
factories
in the
Third
World?
FIGURE 2.23

23. Cycles of Industrialization – Kondratiev Long Waves

24. Consequences of the Industrial Revolution
Creation of an Industrial Working Class
Rise of organized labor
Urbanization – industry as “city forming” activity (? Right-hand tail of Fig. 2.24)
Population Effects: Malthus’ warning vs.
productivity increases, health improvements, lowered birth rates
Growth of Global Markets & International Trade – transport improvement, international finance, timing of development

25. The Case Study - Railroads
New speed & low cost to move people and commodities
Transformative impacts on spatial organization – Siberian railway, U.S. transcontinental railroads
The rise of gateway cities, such as Chicago, St. Louis. See: William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis

26. Colonialism Colonialism: Capitalism on a World Scale
The exploitation of foreign resources by European industrializing nations
Simultaneous economic, political, and cultural impacts rife with conflicts with native groups
The unevenness of colonialism (Figure 2.26)
Transition of colonies to nations – different timing for the Americas vs. Asia & Africa
Figure 2.28, Figure 2.29, Figure 2.30, Figure 2.31

27. Waves of European Colonialism
Napoleonic
Wars, American
Revolution,
Latin American
Independence
British &
French -
dominated
exploitation
of Africa,
Asia, and the
Middle East
Dominated by
Spain & Portugal
Post WW-II Collapse

28. Colonial Empires in 1914
FIGURE 2.27

29. Colonial Powers in S.E. Asia

30. Bases of Colonial Power
Technological and military advantages coincident with the industrial revolution
Jared Diamond’s arguments re: geographical accidents, such as the impact of diseases on local populations, and the timing of technological achievements
Political strengths due to the Western legal and economic system & property rights
The Historiography of Conquest: note the cases are historically and geographically specific – Latin America, North America, Africa, The Arab World, South & East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania

31. The Effects of Colonialism
Annihilation of Indigenous Peoples
Restructuring around primary economic sectors
Formation of dual societies
Polarized geographies (transport networks often reshaping seats of power)
Transplantation of the nation-state
Cultural Westernization

32. FIGURE 2.32

33. Rail Lines
from national
export platforms
to peripheral
locations

34. European Influences in North America ca. 1800

35. Slave Trade
to the
Americas

36. The End of Colonialism Early end in Latin America
Post World War I and II for much of the rest of the planet
Different trajectories to independence
But, even with independence, many regions in the global South remain dependent upon the global North for commodity markets, captured in the core-periphery model