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.

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

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:

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