The Coming Of Modern Agriculture In England Video Lecture - Class 9

until the 18th century the countryside
in England was open the land around a
village was used for cultivation each
villager was allocated different strips
of land to cultivate
this was decided at the beginning of a
year in an annual public meeting though
these strips of land one at different
places it ensured that each villager got
a balanced mix of both good and bad
quality of land and not a unique quality
of the English countryside was the
common land that lay beyond the
agricultural strips of land this common
land was open to all villagers and was
used for a variety of purposes like
pastures for their cows grazing their
sheep and for collecting fuel wood
fruits and berries
however the landscape of England changed
suddenly during the late 18th and early
19th centuries
poor peasants were no longer allowed to
enter the common land and carry out
their activities for their livelihood
furthermore even the strips of land that
were allocated for cultivation were
taken over by the richer landlords and
surrounded by private enclosures let's
see what exactly changed the landscape
of England so drastically in the 16th
century the price of wool shot up this
was seen by the rich landlords as an
opportunity to make profits they wanted
to increase their wool production
improve their sheep breeds and provide a
better feed for them
to do this they needed large enclosed
plots of land so they started drawing up
hedges around their lands to demarcate
their property from those of the others
they also drove out people who had built
small cottages on the common land and
prevented anyone from entering their
privately enclosed land the enclosure
movement caught speed in the late 18th
century and by 1850 six million acres of
land was enclosed
but a drastic change was stimulated by
the rapid increase in population this
was also the age of industrialization in
England the demand for food grains
increased to meet the needs of the large
number of people who had moved to the
urban areas to work in the industries
in addition France went to war with
England around the late 18th century
disrupting the import of food grains
from Europe
taking advantage of this higher demand
for food the rich landlords started a
frenzy of enclosing lands for grain
cultivation to make bigger profits they
demanded enclosure acts as the early
enclosures were not supported by the
government or the church eventually
after the mid 18th century the
Parliament passed four thousand
enclosure acts
the landscape and the agriculture system
of England had changed completely
bringing fortunes for the rich landlords
and misery for the poor peasants