Skip to main content

The Modern Age and the development of Mercantile Capitalism

The 14th Century Crisis ends the Middle Ages and causes a major convulsion in the socio-economic structures of the medieval feudal system.The 15th and 16th centuries are the beginning of Modernity or Modern Age and They are characterized by a series of important social, cultural, economic and political transformations.Next, in History Today Online, we know a little more in depth the Modern Age and the changes that led to the development of mercantilist capitalism.

The Modern Age and the development of Mercantile Capitalism

These changes occur within the framework of a long transition from feudal mode of production to mode of capitalist production from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century.

To understand these transformations of Modernity, we will work on the different facets of these processes in different articles.We will begin now to see a summary of the changes produced in the economy during the early Modern Age , which we can characterize as the moment of development of mercantile capitalism .

Economic Transformations: Development of commercial capitalism

As we say, during these centuries there were profound changes in trade and the economic system, which favored the passage of a system feudal, typical of the Middle Ages, to the capitalist production system, which also marks the transition to the modern era.These are some of the most important changes that occurred in this period:

  • Great development of trade (from changes in agricultural production) that drives the use and circulation of currency.
  • The wealth obtained from trade is used as capital, that is, money invested ( in commercial or productive activities) to obtain more profits.It is a process that tends to accrue mulacion of capital by the high commercial and financial bourgeoisie.
  • A stage of transition between two modes of production begins: feudalism (characteristic of the Middle Ages) and the new mercantile capitalism.
  • Emergence of new forms of work such as home work and salaried work.
  • There is a strong economic relationship between rural (rural) and urban (urban) areas.
  • Exploration trips begin.New links with colonial domains (e.g.America or Africa) are incorporated into the European powers economy, forming a world economy characterized by unequal relations between a center and a periphery.

Social changes brought about by the development of mercantile capitalism

The Modern Age and the development of Mercantile Capitalism

Of course, the emergence of mercantile capitalism and changes in the economic system omico also marked the development of cities and brought about profound changes within the social field:

  • First, it should be noted that the changes that occur during the Modern Age are not abrupt, but that it is of a slow and gradual transformation , in which the precepts of the Middle Ages are gradually being left behind to proceed to the transition to the modern age.
  • The growth of the cities also caused the growth of the group called " bourgeoisie ", which came from the term bourgeois, used to designate the inhabitants of the new neighborhoods of the cities.Within the bourgeoisie there were notable differences between high bourgeoisie, the lower bourgeoisie and the plebs.The fact is that they were all free men and became part of a very important nucleus of the population, the plain people.All of them, merchants, professionals of very diverse nature, would also encourage step towards new models of commerce io and, over time, of production and business organization.
  • At this time the Humanism is also developed, which defends the importance of the individual, of man, against theological beliefs prevailing during the Middle Ages.In general, humanism is usually considered as a movement associated with the liberties of the individual, progress and free thinking.Despite this, the Church continued to have great power, but increasingly increased the number of heresies.
  • It was also during this time that some terms and concepts began to forge, such as those of nation or state .
  • This time is also considered as a of the most splendid in art history, with two distinct periods but with great importance in history, such as the Renaissance and the Baroque .

Finally, we leave you with a video and some interesting links to complete the INFO of the article.

Video about the Modern Age

In the following video you can see an introduction about the changes that occurred during this period, in which the feudal system of the Middle Ages was passed, to the capitalist system of production that caused the rise of the bourgeoisie:

Useful links

If you want to know more about d and in any other historical period, in History Today Online we can help you:

And if you liked the article or do you think it can serve a friend for their history notes, do not hesitate to share it on Facebook, Twitter or Google +.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jose Risueño Biography

José Risueño (Granada, 1665- id ., 1732) Spanish sculptor and painter.Follower of A.Cano, P.de Mena and D.de Mora, he worked in Granada, where he made the figures of the chapel of the Sacrament of the Carthusian monastery, the San Juan de Dios of the church of San Matías and the Crucified Christ of Sacromonte.It is famous for its polychrome baked clay figurines ( Penitent Magdalene ).
Post a Comment
Read more

The great conquerors of history

What do you think has been the greatest conqueror in the world? In today's article we will talk about the great world conquerors and what has been the evolution until today. From the beginning of the world to the current moment, as we know it, there have been multiple conquests, battles and wars that have led to the creation of different kingdoms that have remained for a short time or thousands of years. In today's article we will talk about the great conquerors of antiquity: Alexander the Great Attila Genghis Khan Napoleon Bonaparte Adolf Hitler Article index Alexander the Great Alexander the Great is considered the greatest conqueror in history, hence he was called El Grande. The great conquest that you celebrated was that of Persia, territory after territory ended up being part of its empire : Asia Minor, the Mediterranean Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia and even invaded India. Attila Attila is another of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Adolphe Monticelli Biography

Adolphe Monticelli (Marseille, 1824- id ., 1886) French painter.He was trained in Paris with P.Delaroche.His best known works are imaginary and fantastic compositions, greatly influenced by Watteau's style ( Meeting in a park , Serenade ).He also painted circus scenes, portraits, landscapes, still lifes and still lifes.
Post a Comment
Read more

Carl Gustav Jung Biography

Carl Gustav Jung (Kesswill, 1875-Küssnacht, 1961) Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist.He studied medicine in Basel, and began his activity at the beginning of this century, in the psychiatric clinic of the University of Zurich, of which he was later medical director. Carl Gustav Jung After having followed in Paris, for a semester, the psychopathology courses given by Pierre Janet at la Salpêtrière (1902), He returned to Zurich, worked at the Burghölzli clinic under the guidance of Eugen Bleuler and carried out studies that soon made him famous ( Diagnostiche Assoziations-Studien , 1904-1906). In 1905 he was appointed a free professor of psychiatry.While he was still working in the last clinic mentioned, of which he had become chief physician, he met Sigmund Freud in 1907, with whom he began a fruitful collaboration.He was editor of the Jahrbuch für psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen , directed by Bleuler and Freud, and in 1911 he became president of the ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gregory IX Biography

Gregory IX (Ugolino de Segni; Anagni, c .1170-Rome, 1241) Pope of the Catholic Church (1227-1241).Nephew of Pope Innocent III, he studied in Paris and Bologna and in 1206 he was appointed Cardinal Bishop of Ostia by his uncle.A man of notable legal scholarship, he defended with great energy the claims of power of the papacy and the freedom of the church, for which reason he came into conflict with Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen. Pope Gregory IX approves the Decretals (fresco by Rafael Sanzio) Already in 1227 he excommunicated Frederick II for failing to fulfill his promise to undertake a new crusade, and in 1229 ordered the invasion of the kingdom of Sicily.In 1230 he made peace with the emperor, although the struggle between the Church and the emperor continued.In 1239 he again excommunicated Federico II and decreed a crusade against him; the imperial troops were about to enter Rome when he passed away. During his pontificate, Gregory IX founded the Inquisition and, with ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Alexandr Izvolski Biography

Alexandr Izvolski (Moscow, 1856-Paris, 1919) Russian politician and diplomat, main architect of the alliance between Russia and England in the years before the First World War. Alexandr Izvolski Educated at the Imperial Lyceum in Saint Petersburg, he soon held important diplomatic posts: he was Russian ambassador to the Vatican, Yugoslavia, Germany, Japan and Denmark.Between 1906 and 1910 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs; after that he was appointed ambassador to France. In 1907, Izvolski signed a pact that strengthened the alliance between France and England against Germany.Thanks to this pact, the British and the Russians divided Persia, which was divided into three zones of influence: a British, a Russian and a neutral zone between the two (Afghanistan was under the protection of Great Britain).This pact, together with the Franco-Russian alliance of 1890 and the Anglo-French agreement of 1904, formed the embryo of what would later become the Triple Entente. In Oct...
Post a Comment
Read more

Antoni Clavé Biography

Antoni Clavé (Barcelona, ​​1913-Saint Tropez, 2005) Spanish painter and sculptor.A disciple of the sculptor Ángel Ferrant and the painter José Mongrell, he began painting at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona and his foray into the professional field was produced through poster design, mainly cinematographic.Affiliated with the Republican Army during the Spanish Civil War, in January 1939 he went into exile to France, where he spent time in a refugee camp.He continued his pictorial activities, forming, together with a group of Spanish painters, the so-called School of Paris. In 1941 he set up his first Montparnasse studio.His emotional stability and the birth of his son gave rise to a series of intimate paintings, some of them tending towards abstraction.It did not take long for him to produce paintings with a marked expressionist and even cubist character, in which he systematically and especially dealt with the collage technique, from which the assemblages later derived. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Berlin Wall - Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall-Construction, history and fall of the Berlin Wall .The construction and especially the fall of the Berlin Wall have been great events that have marked the history of the 20th century since This wall divided Germany into two parts for more than 28 years. In this article we want to explain the background, the history of the construction, the fall and where you can see the remains of the Berlin Wall.all about the Berlin Wall, the Cold War symbol ! Index of the article Background of the Berlin Wall Let's start the article explaining how Germany was and what happened for the construction of the Berlin Wall.When World War II ended Germany was divided , we focused on Berlin where the city was segmented and n four sectors depending on the countries that occupied it.Or what is the same, Berlin was divided into these four sectors of occupation : The Soviet area The American zone The French zone The English zone When four countries with such different pol...
Post a Comment
Read more

Innocent VI Biography

Innocent VI (Étienne Aubert; Limoges, 1352-Avignon, 1362) Pope (1352-1362).He had been a professor of Civil Law in Tolosa, where he later founded the Colegio de San Marcial. Innocent VI Simple in his customs, Pope Innocent VI put an end to the excessive privileges and pomp of the prelates and sought to reduce the luxury of the pontifical court.He provided ecclesiastical jobs for persons of recognized ability, abolished a large number of reservations and privileges, prohibited the simultaneous performance of various benefits, and sent to his churches the numerous prelates residing in Avignon without being called, threatening them with excommunication. He recklessly released tribune Cola Rienzi from prison to help him overthrow also tribune Baroncetti, who had terrorized the city of Rome with his cruelties.Rienzi, whom the people had received as a liberator, became a hateful despot and was eventually assassinated by the people after subjecting him to the most ignominious dealing...
Post a Comment
Read more

Claudio Sánchez Albornoz Biography

Claudio Sánchez Albornoz (Madrid, 1893-Ávila, 1984) Spanish historian.He obtained a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from the University of Madrid and won competitive examinations for the Faculty of Archives, Libraries and Museums.At the age of twenty-eight, he won the chair of History of Spain at the University of Barcelona, ​​from where he was soon transferred to Valladolid and, later, to Madrid.On January 11, 1932 he was appointed rector of the Central University of Madrid.His first historical works were carried out between 1911 and 1919, within the study of medieval institutions. Claudio Sánchez Albornoz Liberal and anti-communist democrat, Sánchez Albornoz gave himself to the cause of the Second Spanish Republic.Member of the Republican Action party, he was elected deputy in the first Parliament of the Second Republic, developing a great political activity during this stage.He held, among others, the positions of counselor of Public Instruction, vice president of the Cor...
Post a Comment
Read more