What were the economic effects of the Black Death on western Europe?
What will be an ideal response?
Answers will vary. While the obvious answer is connected to depopulation, there are several qualifications. Depopulation by 33 to 50 percent of the population created an enormous decline in the market both in terms of who was buying and who was producing goods to sell. Agriculture was tremendously diminished because of lack of labor both from those who died in the plague and those who fled to cities to find relief. Decreased agriculture meant decreased food availability, which was particularly problematic for the urban areas that were dependent on surplus agriculture for their food supply. Trade also decreased because the demand for luxury goods was sidelined. The longer-term result of this was that trade was harder to reestablish in the wake of the plague because many competitors in Muslim regions picked up the slack in this market. However, some historians argue that serfdom ended after the plague because the labor shortage meant those who survived had much better bargaining power; they could not only renegotiate their existing work situations, but could actually have access to more skilled labor, such as apprenticeships in guilds, which were also devastated in their membership. Both skilled and unskilled workers had access to increased wages, although there was less to buy than at the beginning of the century. Rents were lower as well.
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The independence of Sumerian city-states was ended when who created the first empire?
a. Hammurabi b. Sargon c. Enheduanna d. Solomon e. Tiglath-pileser
How does this statement from Monroe's inaugural address demonstrate American hypocrisy: "Their citizens individually have been happy and the nation prosperous"?
a. Few people were truly happy in the United States during the first few decades of the nineteenth century. b. The nation was prosperous only because it exploited immigrants and weaker North American neighbors. c. Only those who were citizens (white males) were able to be happy and prosperous; Native Americans, African Americans, and women were denied these opportunities. d. Monroe was addressing politicians, the only truly happy citizens of the United States, and the only people allowed to contribute to its prosperity. e. From the moment of his inaugural address, Monroe's policies undermined individual citizens' happiness and the nation's ability to prosper greatly.
How does this 1890 photograph of the unveiling of Robert E. Lee's memorial in Richmond reflect the ideal of the Lost Cause?
A) It preserved the obligation of keeping the memory of Confederate glory alive. B) It reminded Southerners to atone for their responsibility in starting the Civil War. C) It set forth the vision for healing relations with the North. D) It presented the South as the aggressors of a bloody chapter in our nation's history.
What were the effects of the Middle Passage on both slave traders and slaves?
What will be an ideal response?