Key Concept 4.2: New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
I. Traditional peasant agriculture increased and changed, plantations expanded, and demand for labor increased. These changes both fed and responded to growing global demand for raw materials and finished products.
A. Peasant labor intensified in many regions.
- The development of frontier settlements in Russian Siberia
- Cotton textile production in India
- Silk textile production in China
B. Slavery in Africa continued both the traditional incorporation of slaves into households and the export of slaves to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean.
C. The growth of the plantation economy increased the demand for slaves in the Americas.
D. Colonial economies in the Americas depended on a range of coerced labor.
- Chattel slavery
- Indentured servitude
- Encomienda and hacienda systems
- The Spanish adaptation of the Inca mit’a
II. As new social and political elites changed, they also restructured new ethnic, racial, and gender hierarchies.
A. Both imperial conquests and widening global economic opportunities contributed to the formation of new political and economic elites.
- The Manchus in China
- Creole elites in Spanish America
- European gentry
- Urban commercial entrepreneurs in all major port cities in the world
B. The power of existing political and economic elites fluctuated as they confronted new challenges to their ability to affect the policies of the increasingly powerful monarchs and leaders.
- The zamindars in the Mughal Empire
- The nobility in Europe
- The daimyo in Japan
C. Some notable gender and family restructuring occurred, including the demographic changes in Africa that resulted from the slave trades.
- The dependence of European men on Southeast Asian women for conducting trade in that region
- The smaller size of European families
D. The massive demographic changes in the Americas resulted in new ethnic and racial classifications.
- Mestizo
- Mulatto
- Creole