Something at the ASI. On an upcoming book and an interesting idea about why the Industrial Revolution happened in England.
Timmy Elsewhere
8 responses
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Oh, I noticed that ASI piece and didn’t notice it was you. All the time my head was screaming…TEA!! And not just because it was seven o’clock on a Monday morrning. No, because the Industrial Revolution only happened because of tea. And most specifically for its gastric antiseptic properties.
Only us and Japan had the “stomach” to congregate together in the living flea pits our industrial masters required to make their mills work. And the Japanese had, because labour was so cheap, to all intents and purposes uninvented the wheel because they paid people to carry things, so were at a distinct disadvantage when it came to inventing anything that needed to go round and around!
Well I like it anyway. It explains my genetic predisposition to not ddoing anything until after two mugs of tea in the morning anyway! -
C’mon. In the 1870s, the Japanese sent the Iwakura Mission around the world to learn how to modernise Japan’s economy:
“The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji era. Although it was not the only such ‘mission’, it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period of isolation from the West. . . ”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwakura_mission
The mission visited Britain in 1872:
http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=12408&amid=12408
England was rated as “excellent” – Britain’s embassy in Tokyo is located closer to the Imperial Palace than any other embassy. -
C’mon, Jock. In the 1870s, the Japanese sent the Iwakura Mission around the world to learn how to modernise Japan’s economy:
“The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji era. Although it was not the only such ‘mission’, it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period of isolation from the West. . . ”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwakura_mission
The mission visited Britain in 1872:
http://www.historytoday.com/MainArticle.aspx?m=12408&amid=12408
England was rated as “excellent” – Britain’s embassy in Tokyo is located closer to the Imperial Palace than any other embassy. -
Apologies for the double post – there was a glitch caused by the Playboy spam
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Who were these middle classes in the Medieval period who outbred the rest? As far as I can see, there were the Knights (who got chopped more than others), and the monks.
Outbreeding? I don’t think so.
Tim adds: Trade laddies, trade. All those Burgessess etc. -
It can be that the coming together of many seperate things in one place (a bit like in a chemical reaction)can have unexpected consequences. When the mix is right, marvellous things can happen.
I agree with the tee thing, but that was only one ingrediant, amongst others I would include
1) The Black Death – a reduced population brought to an end surfdom and created an independant artisan class.
2) The Reformation – Freed the enquiring mind from the rigid dogmas of the RC Church.
3) Primogeniture – The educated younger sons of the wealthy, who did not inherit, turned their minds to the natural sciences and developed modern empirical methods of modern science.
4) The development of the Joint Stock Company and the creation of capital markets to provided the recources needed to develop industries on a large scale. This led to
5) The division of labour, and the huge increases in productivity which was seen during the 19th century.
I’m sure there are more, but all of these things happened in England, if not before anywhere else, but at the same time and became, as with a chemical reaction, highly volatile. For which we should all be extremly grateful. -
Bob – surely the Japanese missions you mention were really the best part of a century after the Industrial revolution in Britain got into full swing.
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For a data-driven in depth examination of this:
The Great Divergence: China, Europe and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton Economic History of the Western World) (Paperback) – by Kenneth Pomeranz
or check out the web site:
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/chinawh/web/s1/index.html
They make a very strong case for equivalent economic growth in China, Japan, Northern Europe and possibly India until the late 1700’s, with the chance of Europe’s access to North America’s raw materials (from timber on) and Britains geography (easily accessible coal deposits to manafacturers).
Well worth reading.
Tim adds: That’s one of the texts quoted in the building of his argument. He agrees, sorta, but then goes on to ask why the take off in one place and not the others. The US argument he uses, but still wants to add more than just that.
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