Essential Historical and Economic Terminology

Agricultural and Economic Foundations

• Crop rotation: A tillage system consisting of alternating annual crops on the same land to maintain soil fertility.
• Fallow: Farmland that is left unsown for a year or more to allow the soil to recover.
• Demographic models: The study of population structure and evolution, including birth and mortality rates, and natural or vegetative growth.
• Subsistence Crisis: A regular economic crisis suffered during the Ancien Régime as a result of crop irregularities and food shortages.
• Middle Ages: A period of Western European history between the 13th and 15th centuries, characterized by the apogee of cities and the development of craftsmanship.
• Manufactures: Products made by hand, especially in the textile industry (yarn and fabrics). In 18th-century England, farmers manufactured goods at home under the domestic system before moving to the city.
• Take-off: An English expression referring to the initial stage of rapid and self-sustained economic growth.
• Enclosures: Fences or barriers placed around fields by their owners to enclose common land for private use.
• Market: A physical or abstract space where products are bought and sold.
• Law of Supply and Demand: An economic principle where if the supply of a product exceeds demand, prices fall, stimulating consumption; conversely, if demand exceeds supply, prices and profits rise, stimulating production.

Political Systems and Social Movements

• Absolutism: A political system where the ruler, such as a king, has no legal restrictions on the exercise of power, including the ability to create laws and prosecute subjects.
• Opium Wars: British wars against China to ensure the free trade of opium in the Chinese market, where its consumption was prohibited but yielded high profits.
• Universal Suffrage: A political system in which voting rights are granted to all adult citizens, though historically women were often excluded.
• Census Suffrage: A political system where only men with a certain level of income, property, or specific titles (such as teachers or priests) were permitted to vote.
• Sans-culottes: A term used during the French Revolution to designate the common people of the city, who wore long trousers instead of the knee-length breeches favored by the elite.
• Third Estate: A social group formed by the productive forces of society, including the bourgeoisie, working classes, and free peasants.
• States General: A general assembly representing the three estates of French society under the Ancien Régime: the nobility, the clergy, and the bourgeoisie.
• East India Company: An English trading company that held a monopoly on trade with the American colonies.
• National Sovereignty: The principle that the legitimacy of power emanates from the nation or the people rather than a monarch.
• Division of Powers: A political theory published by Montesquieu, whereby the powers to make laws (legislative), judge (judicial), and enforce laws (executive) must be separated and exercised by different institutions, such as parliaments, courts, and governments.