Page 212 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

production and reproduction 1513

sugar from plantations in the tropical New World and These decreases of fertility and mortality caused an
fish from the north Atlantic became staples in the diet, enormous increase in European population, smaller fam-
particularly for the English. ilies, an older population profile, diminished sickness,
Municipal and national governments experienced a and less psychological suffering. The European popula-
“great sanitary awakening” as medical scientists recog- tion trebled and quadrupled. Meanwhile, Europeans be-
nized urban filth; human, animal, and industrial wastes; tween 1820 and 1920 sent roughly 40 million immi-
contaminated waters; and so forth as health hazards. grants into the world, some 35 million to North America
Governments constructed sanitary water and sewerage alone, creating neo-Europes in southern South America,
systems, drained and paved streets, and relocated unsan- North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
itary cemeteries, abattoirs, and polluting industries such The Industrial Revolution and accompanying popu-
as tanneries. Public schooling, which developed at this lation explosion also created great global inequalities—
time, instructed the poorer classes in basic hygiene. what some scholars call the “great divergence.” Industrial
Considerable regional variations existed.At first living societies of North America and western Europe enjoyed
conditions worsened for the factory laboring classes. higher per capita consumption, vastly extended life ex-
Rapid unplanned urbanization resulted in contaminated pectancies, greater leisure, low mortality, and low infant
water supplies, adulterated and scarce food, crowded mortality.They became healthier, wealthier, and presum-
housing and streets, harsh working conditions, and in- ably happier. Meanwhile, conditions of life elsewhere in
dustrial pollutants that filled air and water.The stature of the world worsened. European seizure of key resources
the laboring classes diminished, their health deterio- around the world and imposition of imperialism aided
rated, and infant mortalities remained high, particularly industrializing societies while impoverishing and cultur-
as mothers drawn into factory labor were forced to neg- ally disorienting others.The Netherlands, France, Britain,
lect their children. Among some poor laboring urban and later Germany, the United States, and Japan became
and rural people birth rates rose as illegitimacy increased, military-industrial powerhouses. Rich and powerful con-
age of marriage declined and they lost traditional village fronted poor and powerless.After about 1950 standards
community restraints or community child-care support. of living, sanitary conditions, and literacy gradually im-
In England death rates from high infant mortality actu- proved along with political independence for most of the
ally rose a little. In other regions, for example, northern subjected populations of Asia,Africa, and Latin America.
France, birth rates declined, but death rates dropped con- However, fundamental inequalities in per capita produc-
siderably more, still resulting in population growth. tion, consumption, and life expectancy persist into the
After 1850 rural and urban laboring classes experi- twenty-first century.
enced rising standards of living and increased literacy.
Paul V. Adams
Meanwhile, mortality continued its downward spiral. Hor-
rible epidemics of cholera from 1832 to 1884 spurred See also Agrarian Era; Foraging (Paleolithic) Era; Modern
further sanitary measures. By the 1880s the bacteriolog- Era
ical origins of certain killer diseases—cholera, typhoid,
diphtheria, smallpox, and others—had been definitively Further Reading
established, and medical science applied to public policy Cohen, M. N. (1989). Health and the rise of civilization. New Haven, CT:
led to a system of vaccines and preventive techniques Yale University Press.
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs and steel: The fate of human societies.
that extended life expectancy more than during all of the New York: W.W. Norton.
previous human record: from roughly thirty-five or fifty Fagan, B. (1990). The journey from Eden:The peopling of our world. New
York: Thames and Hudson.
years to nearly seventy by the first decades of the twen-
Fagan, B. (2004). The long summer: How climate changed civilization.
tieth century. New York: Basic Books.