vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Qing dynasty
By the end of the 17th century , the Chinese economy had recovered from the devastation caused by the wars in which the Ming dynasty were overthrown , and the resulting breakdown of order . In the following century , markets continued to expand as in the late Ming period , but with more trade between regions , a greater dependence on overseas markets and a greatly increased population . By the end of the 18th century the population had risen to 300 million from approximately 150 million during the late Ming dynasty . The dramatic rise in population was due to several reasons , including the long period of peace and stability in the 18th century and the import of new crops China received from the Americas , including peanuts , sweet potatoes and maize . New species of rice from Southeast Asia led to a huge increase in production . Merchant guilds proliferated in all of the growing Chinese cities and often acquired great social and even political influence . Rich merchants with official connections built up huge fortunes and patronized literature , theater and the arts . Textile and handicraft production boomed .
Industrial Revolution
Wallonia exemplified the radical evolution of industrial expansion . Thanks to coal ( the French word `` houille '' was coined in Wallonia ) , the region geared up to become the 2nd industrial power in the world after Britain . But it is also pointed out by many researchers , with its Sillon industriel , ' Especially in the Haine , Sambre and Meuse valleys , between the Borinage and Liège , ( ... ) there was a huge industrial development based on coal - mining and iron - making ... ' . Philippe Raxhon wrote about the period after 1830 : `` It was not propaganda but a reality the Walloon regions were becoming the second industrial power all over the world after Britain . '' `` The sole industrial centre outside the collieries and blast furnaces of Walloon was the old cloth making town of Ghent . '' Michel De Coster , Professor at the Université de Liège wrote also : `` The historians and the economists say that Belgium was the second industrial power of the world , in proportion to its population and its territory ( ... ) But this rank is the one of Wallonia where the coal - mines , the blast furnaces , the iron and zinc factories , the wool industry , the glass industry , the weapons industry ... were concentrated . '' Demographic
Industrial Revolution
The rapid introduction of railways followed the 1829 Rainhill Trials , which demonstrated Robert Stephenson 's successful locomotive design and the 1828 development of Hot blast , which dramatically reduced the fuel consumption of making iron and increased the capacity the blast furnace .
Social class in the United States
Before industrialization , `` yeoman farmers '' -- self - sufficient , politically independent landowners -- made up a large portion of the country 's population . Jeffersonian democracy and Jacksonian democracy successfully expanded the political rights of the yeomen , and the geographical extent of the nation to provide them farms . This culminated in the Homestead Act of 1862 which provided hundreds of thousands of free farms . Before 1865 large southern plantations used slaves . After emancipation , a system of sharecropping and tenant farming for both whites and blacks in the South provided a semi-independent status for farmers who did not own their land . In contemporary times , migrant agricultural workers -- mostly Mexicans -- perform field and packing work .
Industrial Revolution
Child labour existed before the Industrial Revolution but with the increase in population and education it became more visible . Many children were forced to work in relatively bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders , 10 -- 20 % of an adult male 's wage . Children as young as four were employed . Beatings and long hours were common , with some child coal miners and hurriers working from 4 am until 5 pm . Conditions were dangerous , with some children killed when they dozed off and fell into the path of the carts , while others died from gas explosions . Many children developed lung cancer and other diseases and died before the age of 25 . Workhouses would sell orphans and abandoned children as `` pauper apprentices '' , working without wages for board and lodging . Those who ran away would be whipped and returned to their masters , with some masters shackling them to prevent escape . Children employed as mule scavengers by cotton mills would crawl under machinery to pick up cotton , working 14 hours a day , six days a week . Some lost hands or limbs , others were crushed under the machines , and some were decapitated . Young girls worked at match factories , where phosphorus fumes would cause many to develop phossy jaw . Children employed at glassworks were regularly burned and blinded , and those working at potteries were vulnerable to poisonous clay dust .
Columbian Exchange
When the colonized lands emerged as profitable plantation lands , the Spanish and other colonizers increased the importation of Africans as enslaved laborers , altering global demographics . The
Factory Acts
The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802 ( 42 Geo III c. 73 ) was introduced by Sir Robert Peel ; it addressed concerns felt by the medical men of Manchester about the health and welfare of children employed in cotton mills , and first expressed by them in 1784 in a report on an outbreak of ' putrid fever ' at a mill at Radcliffe owned by Peel . Although the Act included some hygiene requirements for all textile mills , it was largely concerned with the employment of apprentices ; it left the employment of ' free ' ( non-indentured ) children unregulated . It allowed ( but did not require ) local magistrates to enforce compliance with its requirements , and therefore went largely unenforced . As the first attempt to improve the lot of factory children , it is often seen as paving the way for future Factory Acts . At best , it only partially paved the way ; its restriction to apprentices ( where there was a long tradition of legislation ) meant that it was left to later Factory Acts to establish the principle of intervention by Parliament on humanitarian grounds on worker welfare issues against the `` laissez - faire '' political and economic orthodoxy of the age which held that to be ill - advised .
Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth , especially in the North and West . As American wages were much higher than those in Europe , especially for skilled workers , the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants . The rapid expansion of industrialization led to real wage growth of 60 % between 1860 and 1890 , spread across the ever - increasing labor force . The average annual wage per industrial worker ( including men , women , and children ) rose from $380 in 1880 to $564 in 1890 , a gain of 48 % . However , the Gilded Age was also an era of abject poverty and inequality as millions of immigrants -- many from impoverished regions -- poured into the United States , and the high concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious .
Industrial Revolution
In the half century following the invention of the fundamental machine tools the machine industry became the largest industrial sector of the U.S. economy , by value added .
Confederate States of America
Slave labor was applied in industry in a limited way in the Upper South and in a few port cities . One reason for the regional lag in industrial development was top - heavy income distribution . Mass production requires mass markets , and slaves living in small cabins , using self - made tools and outfitted with one suit of work clothes each year of inferior fabric , did not generate consumer demand to sustain local manufactures of any description in the same way a mechanized family farm of free labor did in the North . The Southern economy was `` pre-capitalist '' in that slaves were put to work in the largest revenue - producing enterprises , not free labor market . That labor system as practiced in the American South encompassed paternalism , whether abusive or indulgent , and that meant labor management considerations apart from productivity .
Steam power during the Industrial Revolution
After the first steamboat was invented and achieved a number of successful trials , it was quickly adopted and led to an even quicker change in the way of water transport . In 1814 , the city of New Orleans recorded 21 steamboat arrivals , but over the course of the following 20 years that number exploded to more than 1200 . The steamboat 's role as a major transportation source was secured . The transport sector saw enormous growth following the steam engine 's application , leading to major innovations in canals , steamboats , and railroads . The steamboat and canal system revolutionized trade of the United States . As the steamboats gained popularity , enthusiasm grew for the building of canals . In 1816 , the US had only 100 miles of canals . This needed to change , however , as the potential increase in traded goods from east to west convinced many that canals were a necessary connection between the Mississippi - Ohio waterways with the Great Lakes .
Causes of the Great Depression
Some portion of the increased unemployment which characterized the post-War years in the United States may be attributed to the mechanization of industries producing commodities of inelastic demand . -- Fredrick C. Wells , 1934
Famine
Subsistence peasants were also increasingly forced to commercialize their activities because of increasing taxes . Taxes that had to be paid to central governments in money forced the peasants to produce crops to sell . Sometimes they produced industrial crops , but they would find ways to increase their production in order to meet both their subsistence requirements as well as their tax obligations . Peasants also used the new money to purchase manufactured goods . The agricultural and social developments encouraging increased food production were gradually taking place throughout the 16th century , but took off in the early 17th century .
Colony of Virginia
With the boom in tobacco planting , there was a severe shortage of laborers to work the labor - intensive crop . One method to solve the shortage was through the usage of indentured servants .
Steam power during the Industrial Revolution
In the early 19th century after the expiration of the Boulton & Watt patent in 1800 , the steam engine underwent great increases in power due to the use of higher pressure steam which Watt had always avoided because of the danger of exploding boilers , which were in a very primitive state of development .
History of Maryland
The American Revolution stimulated the domestic market for wheat and iron ore , and flour milling increased in Baltimore . Iron ore transport greatly boosted the local economy . By 1800 Baltimore had become one of the major cities of the new republic . The British naval blockade during the War of 1812 hurt Baltimore 's shipping , but also freed merchants and traders from British debts , which along with the capture of British merchant vessels furthered the city 's economic growth . Transportation
Child labour
As technology improved and proliferated , there was a greater need for educated employees . This saw an increase in schooling , with the eventual introduction of compulsory schooling . Improved technology and automation also made child labour redundant .
Industrial Revolution
`` A good horse on an ordinary turnpike road can draw two thousand pounds , or one ton . A party of gentlemen were invited to witness the experiment , that the superiority of the new road might be established by ocular demonstration . Twelve wagons were loaded with stones , till each wagon weighed three tons , and the wagons were fastened together . A horse was then attached , which drew the wagons with ease , six miles in two hours , having stopped four times , in order to show he had the power of starting , as well as drawing his great load . ''
Industrial Revolution
During 1890 -- 1930 , Sweden experienced the second industrial revolution . New industries developed with their focus on the domestic market : mechanical engineering , power utilities , papermaking and textile .
Factory Acts
`` agreed that , the bill was loudly called for , and , as the proprietor of a large manufactory , admitted that there was much that required remedy . He doubted whether shortening the hours of work would be injurious even to the interests of the manufacturers ; as the children would be able , while they were employed , to pursue their occupation with greater vigour and activity . At the same time , there was nothing to warrant a comparison with the condition of the negroes in the West Indies .
Industrial Revolution
The large scale production of chemicals was an important development during the Industrial Revolution . The first of these was the production of sulphuric acid by the lead chamber process invented by the Englishman John Roebuck ( James Watt 's first partner ) in 1746 . He was able to greatly increase the scale of the manufacture by replacing the relatively expensive glass vessels formerly used with larger , less expensive chambers made of riveted sheets of lead . Instead of making a small amount each time , he was able to make around 100 pounds ( 50 kg ) in each of the chambers , at least a tenfold increase .
Colonial history of the United States
Another point on which the colonies found themselves more similar than different was the booming import of British goods . The British economy had begun to grow rapidly at the end of the 17th century and , by the mid-18th century , small factories in Britain were producing much more than the nation could consume . Britain found a market for their goods in the British colonies of North America , increasing her exports to that region by 360 % between 1740 and 1770 . British merchants offered credit to their customers ; this allowed Americans to buy a large amount of British goods . From Nova Scotia to Georgia , all British subjects bought similar products , creating and anglicizing a sort of common identity .
Industrial Revolution
Consumers benefited from falling prices for clothing and household articles such as cast iron cooking utensils , and in the following decades , stoves for cooking and space heating . Meeting the demands of the consumer revolution and growth in wealth of the middle classes in Britain , potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood , founder of Wedgwood fine china and porcelain , created goods such as tableware , which was starting to become a common feature on dining tables .
Convicts in Australia
According to Robert Hughes in The Fatal Shore , the population of England and Wales , which had remained steady at 6 million from 1700 to 1740 , began rising considerably after 1740 . By the time of the American Revolution , London was overcrowded , filled with the unemployed , and flooded with cheap gin . Poverty , social injustice , child labor , harsh and dirty living conditions and long working hours were prevalent in 19th - century Britain . Dickens ' novels perhaps best illustrate this ; even some government officials were horrified by what they saw . Only in 1833 and 1844 were the first general laws against child labour ( the Factory Acts ) passed in the United Kingdom . Crime had become a major problem and in 1784 a French observer noted that `` from sunset to dawn the environs of London became the patrimony of brigands for twenty miles around . '' Prison
Industrial Revolution
The traditional centers of hand textile production such as India , parts of the Middle East and later China could not withstand the competition from machine made textiles , which over a period of decades destroyed the hand made textile industries and left millions of people without work , many of whom starved . Effect
Industrial Revolution
In the UK , canals began to be built in the late 18th century to link the major manufacturing centres across the country . Known for its huge commercial success , the Bridgewater Canal in North West England , which opened in 1761 and was mostly funded by The 3rd Duke of Bridgewater . From Worsley to the rapidly growing town of Manchester its construction cost £ 168,000 ( £ 22,589,130 as of 2013 ) , but its advantages over land and river transport meant that within a year of its opening in 1761 , the price of coal in Manchester fell by about half . This success helped inspire a period of intense canal building , known as Canal Mania . New canals were hastily built in the aim of replicating the commercial success of the Bridgewater Canal , the most notable being the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the Thames and Severn Canal which opened in 1774 and 1789 respectively .
History of the United States Merchant Marine
The increased demand for shipping was the result of several factors . The discovery in 1848 of gold in California was a major cause along with the wars between Great Britain and China in 1840 - 42 and 1856 - 60 threw a part of the China trade into American hands . The revolutionary outbreaks of 1848 interrupted European trade , with a resultant benefit to Americans , while the Crimean War , which occupied many European boats in transporting troops and supplies , gave new openings to American ships . In addition the natural growth in population , wealth , and production necessitated increased shipping .
Industrial Revolution
The stable political situation in Britain from around 1688 following the Glorious Revolution , and British society 's greater receptiveness to change ( compared with other European countries ) can also be said to be factors favouring the Industrial Revolution . Peasant resistance to industrialisation was largely eliminated by the Enclosure movement , and the landed upper classes developed commercial interests that made them pioneers in removing obstacles to the growth of capitalism . ( This point is also made in Hilaire Belloc 's The Servile State . )
Social development theory
Technological development depends on social organizations . Nobel laureate economist Arthur Lewis observed that the mechanization of factory production in England -- the Industrial Revolution -- was a direct result of the reorganization of English agriculture . Enclosure of common lands in England generated surplus income for farmers . That extra income generated additional raw materials for industrial processing , and produced greater demand for industrial products that traditional manufacturing processes could not meet .
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history ; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way . In particular , average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth . Some economists say that the major impact of the Industrial Revolution was that the standard of living for the general population began to increase consistently for the first time in history , although others have said that it did not begin to meaningfully improve until the late 19th and 20th centuries .
Economic history of the Netherlands (1500–1815)
The explosive growth of the textiles industries in several specialized Dutch cities , like Enschede ( woollen cloth ) , Haarlem ( linen ) , and Amsterdam ( silk ) was mainly caused by the influx of skilled workers and capital from the Southern Netherlands in the final decades of the 16th century , when Calvinist entrepreneurs and workers were forced to leave the Spanish - dominated areas . It was therefore not due to a specific technological development , but more to the fact that a whole industry migrated , lock , stock , and barrel , to the Northern Netherlands , thus reinvigorating the northern textile industry , that had been moribund before the Revolt . Labor
Factory Acts
In 1831 Hobhouse introduced a further bill with - he told the Commons - the support of the leading manufacturers who felt that `` unless the House should step forward and interfere so as to put an end to the night - work in the small factories where it was practised , it would be impossible for the large and respectable factories which conformed to the existing law to compete with them . '' The Act repealed the previous Acts , and consolidated their provisions in a single Act , which also introduced further restrictions . Night working was forbidden for anyone under 21 and if a mill had been working at night the onus of proof was on the millowner ( to show nobody under - age had been employed ) . The limitation of working hours to twelve now applied up to age eighteen . Complaints could only pursued if made within three weeks of the offence ; on the other hand JPs who were the brothers of millowners were now also debarred from hearing Factory Act cases . Hobhouse 's claim of general support was optimistic ; the Bill originally covered all textile mills ; the Act as passed again applied only to cotton mills .
Barbados
The introduction of sugar cane from Dutch Brazil in 1640 completely transformed society and the economy . Barbados eventually had one of the world 's biggest sugar industries . One group instrumental in ensuring the early success of the industry were the Sephardic Jews , who had originally been expelled from the Iberian peninsula , to end up in Dutch Brazil . As the effects of the new crop increased , so did the shift in the ethnic composition of Barbados and surrounding islands . The workable sugar plantation required a large investment and a great deal of heavy labour . At first , Dutch traders supplied the equipment , financing , and African slaves , in addition to transporting most of the sugar to Europe . In 1644 the population of Barbados was estimated at 30,000 , of which about 800 were of African descent , with the remainder mainly of English descent . These English smallholders were eventually bought out and the island filled up with large African slave - worked sugar plantations . By 1660 there was near parity with 27,000 blacks and 26,000 whites . By 1666 at least 12,000 white smallholders had been bought out , died , or left the island . Many of the remaining whites were increasingly poor . By 1680 there were 17 slaves for every indentured servant . By 1700 , there were 15,000 free whites and 50,000 enslaved blacks .
Gilded Age
A dramatic expansion in farming took place during the Gilded Age , with the number of farms tripling from 2.0 million in 1860 to 6.0 million in 1905 . The number of people living on farms grew from about 10 million in 1860 to 22 million in 1880 to 31 million in 1905 . The value of farms soared from $8.0 billion in 1860 to $30 billion in 1906 .
Industrial Revolution
According to Robert Hughes in The Fatal Shore , the population of England and Wales , which had remained steady at six million from 1700 to 1740 , rose dramatically after 1740 . The population of England had more than doubled from 8.3 million in 1801 to 16.8 million in 1850 and , by 1901 , had nearly doubled again to 30.5 million . Improved conditions led to the population of Britain increasing from 10 million to 40 million in the 1800s . Europe 's population increased from about 100 million in 1700 to 400 million by 1900 .
Migration in China
Labor surplus in rural areas is often regarded as one of the factors of internal migration in China . Central to this theory is that surplus rural labor provides a needed work force for industrial growth in urban areas On one hand , the Household - responsibility system ( HRS ) established during Chinese economic reform was productive and generated surplus labor in rural areas . On the other hand , in urban areas the development of the special economic zones and industries created demand for labor force . Some scholars state that , while the surplus rural labor is viewed as the main `` push factor '' , demand for labor can be regarded as the main `` pull factor '' . Others contend that high unemployment rates in urban areas rejected this paradigm .