The Fourteenth Century Crisis ends the Middle Ages and causes a major upheaval in the socioeconomic structures of the medieval feudal system. The 15th and 16th centuries are the beginning of Modernity or Modern age and are characterized by a series of important social, cultural, economic and political transformations. Next, in Sobrehistoria, we learn a little more about 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 the feudal mode of production to the capitalist mode of production that spans from the 14th century to the 18th century.
To understand these transformations of Modernity We will be working in different articles on the different facets of these processes. We will now start by looking at a summary of the changes that have occurred in the economy during the beginning of the Modern agewhich we can characterize as the moment of development of mercantile capitalism.
Economic Transformations: Development of mercantile capitalism
As we say, during these centuries there were profound changes in the trade and economic system, which favored the passage from a feudal system, the one 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 that is invested (in commercial or productive activities) to obtain more profits. It is a process that tends to the accumulation of capital by the commercial and financial upper bourgeoisie.
- A transition stage begins between two modes of production: 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 (countryside) and urban (city) areas.
- Voyages of exploration begin. New links with colonial domains (eg America or Africa) are incorporated into the economy of the European powers, forming a world-economy characterized by unequal relations between a center and a periphery.
Of course, the irruption of mercantile capitalism and the changes in the economic system also marked the development of cities and caused profound changes within the social sphere:
- In the first place, it should be noted that the changes that occur during the Modern Age are not sudden, but rather a slow and gradual transformationin which the precepts of the Middle Ages are gradually 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 borough, used to designate the inhabitants of the new neighborhoods of the cities. Within the bourgeoisie there were notable differences between the upper bourgeoisie, the lower bourgeoisie and the plebs. The fact is that all of them were free men and became part of a very important nucleus of the population, the common people. All of them, merchants, professionals of a very diverse nature, would also encourage the passage towards new models of commerce and, over time, of production and business organization.
- At this time also develops the Humanism, which defends the importance of the individual, of man, against the theological beliefs prevailing during the Middle Ages. In general, humanism is usually considered as a movement associated with the freedoms of the individual, progress and free thinking. Despite this, the Church continued to have great power, but the number of heresies increased more and more.
- It was also during this time that some terms and concepts began to be forged, such as those of nation or state.
- This era is also considered one of the most splendid in the history of art, with two different periods but with great importance in history, such as the Renaissance and Baroque.
To finish, we leave you with a video and some links of interest 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 we went from the feudal system of the Middle Ages, to the capitalist system of production that caused the rise of the bourgeoisie:
Links of interest
If you want to know more about any other historical period, in Superhistory we can give you a hand:
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