During the 14th century, plague, foul weather, war, famine, and peasant uprisings devastated European society and resulted in the death of perhaps one quarter of the population. By the early 1500s, England’s population stood at 4 million, France at 15 million, Italy at 11 million, and Spain at 6 million. By the beginning of the 17th century, these crises had generally abated and, despite a brief period of renewed stress in the first half of the 1600s, Europe sat poised for unparalleled economic growth. As conditions improved after 1650, population surged and changed the economic dynamics of Europe, setting the stage for the coming period of industrialization. From the late 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, population in France, Spain, and the Italian and German states grew by 50% to 80% while that of the British Isles soared by 280%. The most dramatic increase occurred in the 18th century. In 1700 Europe’s total population stood at 120 million, grew to 140 million in 1750, and soared to 190 million in 1790. In the same nine-decade period the population of Great Britain rose by 33% to 9 million, France by 33% to 27 million, Spain by 60% to 10 million, Prussia by nearly 300% to 5.5 million, and Russia by 100% to 28 million. This phenomenal increase resulted from improved food production and better diets and a decrease in death rates due to reduced famines and the gradual waning of plague (the last major outbreak occurred in 1720 and was confined primarily to southern France).1
The 18th century population increase was felt most acutely in the cities and generally in a relatively small number of urban areas. And, although the percentage of urban residents in Europe increased only slightly from 8% in 1650 to 10% in 1800, the actual numbers actually doubled when placed in the context of the overall rapid increase in European population over the same period. Furthermore, between 1650 and 1750 the number of European cities with a population of 10,000 or more increased by 44%. In 1500, half of the people living in cities of this size had resided in the Italian states, Spain, and Portugal. Beginning in 1700 and in an obvious indication of what was to come, population shifted north and west as cities on the continent with populations of 5,000 to 10,000 actually declined in this period, while those in Great Britain doubled in number. Indeed, in 1800 five of the six largest towns in Great Britain (newcomers Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield) had been small and insignificant urban areas in 1600. By 1700, 11% of all persons in Great Britain resided in London and an untold number of persons constantly passed in and out of the city conducting business, settling legal issues, participating in the political life of the nation, and enjoying social pursuits. More than three percent of Frenchmen lived in Paris, but like London the capital exerted an influence disproportionate to its population over the surrounding countryside and beyond. Even if one counts the populations of Moscow and Istanbul in that of Eastern Europe, the region was noticeably less urban than Western Europe by 1750. Warsaw, for example, had only 23,000 inhabitants by that date. On the other hand, Amsterdam had become the new Venice, and Antwerp served as a major hub of trade and commerce. London’s population had reached
675,000, Berlin had 90,000 inhabitants, and Paris doubled in population in the corresponding period. From 1750 to 1800, nearly 70% of all urban growth in Western Europe was occurring in Great Britain. London, always the largest city in Great Britain, was not even among the top ten cities in Europe in 1550, but by 1800 it was larger than any urban area on the continent.2
World History
