3.3 Increased Economic Productive Capacity and Its Consequences

Period 3 – Regional and Transregional Interactions, c. 600 CE to c. 1450 CE

Changes in trade networks resulted from and stimulated increasing productive capacity, with important implications for social and gender structures and environmental processes. Productivity rose in both agriculture and industry. Rising productivity supported population growth and urbanization but also strained environmental resources and at times caused dramatic demographic swings.

Shifts in production and the increased volume of trade also stimulated new labor practices, including adaptation of existing patterns of free and coerced labor. Social and gender structures evolved in response to these changes.

Illustrative examples, technological innovations:

• The chinampa field systems
• Waru waru agricultural techniques in the Andean areas
• Improved terracing techniques
• The horse collar
• Three field rotation
• Swamp draining

Illustrative examples, regions where free peasants revolted:

• China
• The Byzantine Empire

Illustrative examples, changes in gender relations and family structure:

• Divorce for both men and women in some Muslim states
• The practice of foot binding in Song China
• Female monastic orders in Christianity and Buddhism