Population in Europe 1500-1750 [antikvár]

Population in Europe 1500-1700 TWO CENTURIES OF DEMOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION The question must be asked: do the two centuries between the reign of Henry VII and that of Queen Anne exhibit, as regards Europe, any clear and distinctive characteristics from the demographic point of view ? How do they stand in the unfolding of the history of the population by comparison with, on the one hand, the Middle Ages and, on the other, the 18th century? The answer is that the i6th and 17th centuries saw the first part of a transformation in the history of the European population—the first weakening of the medieval demographic pattern and the beginning of the contemporary demographic revolution. These changes did not have a very marked effect on the relationship between births and deaths: as far as one can judge, the figures and the trends were scarcely modified before the end of the 17th century. But changes occurred in substructures and environment without which the demographic revolution would never have taken the shape it did. There are three distinctive features which help to give an identity to this crucial period. I. Various changes took place in the geographical framework, in the ways in which people lived and in the ways in which they looked at life. These had profound and lasting repercussions in the demographic sphere. Let us consider the most important of them: Between 1500 and 1700, the face of Europe was transformed; the main channels of trade shifted; modern states were consolidated. Europe had been shut in, Columbus and Vasco da Gama had only just peeped at the world outside and no one had as yet been round the world. Two centuries later, in an open Europe, the maritime nations were taking part in the exploration and exploitation of other parts of the world and the former Moscovy, now Russia, had staked P.E.-A2 [5]