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The next six lessons will examine the economic and social history from the beginning of time until the present.

These six lessons actually focus on three major topics: World Economy, U.S. Economy and Economic and Social Theorists, with two lessons devoted to each topic.

The major topics include the World Economy, U.S. Economy and Economic and Social Theorists.

The World Economy to 1500 is covered in lesson 4, and the World Economy to the Present in lesson 5.

The U. S. Economy to 1861 is examined in lesson 6, and the U. S. economy to the Present in lesson 7.

The Economic and Social Theorists are divided into lesson 8, Classical Theorists (17th and 18th) century and lesson 9 which covers the Modern Theorists (20th century).

Please remember that you are to enter into the study of these next six historical lessons with the mindset of an economist.

You will also be able to use your excellent social science research skills throughout all of these lessons.

A reminder that you should use all of the available Economic Application Tools that we identified in the first three lessons.

Please don't miss the valuable information contained in the graphics. You can look at this information by clicking once on the graphic to enlarge the picture and once more to shrink it to its original size.

We are looking at history through an economic filter, while relying on our newly acquired knowledge of the social sciences of anthropology, geography, political science and sociology.

We will have the opportunity to examine some civilizations in regard to their type of government and economies and the amount of freedom that was available to the people.

It will not be possible to examine the economies of each country or region of the world. Our focus of study will be on how different people reacted to the social, political, cultural and economic problems of their day.

In prehistoric times, people lived by hunting, fishing and gathering plants that grew in the wild.

These people were referred to as nomads because they followed the great herds of animals in search of food. If food was scarce in one area they would move to another area.

The three economic questions of what to produce, how to produce and how to distribute were as important to these early people as it is for us today.

Families or groups banded together to form small bands that would number as many as 50 people.

These people did not build permanent shelters, but used caves and lean-tos for protection from the elements.

The production duties were divided as some people stayed in camp to care for the young or gather food while others in the band went hunting.

These bands also began to develop farming techniques that helped them survive when food was scarce.

The food surplus from the improved farming practices also led to a division of labor among the people. It did not take all of the people working in the fields to feed the entire population. See the chart below for the development of technology in ancient times.

Artisans and tradesmen began working in villages, using their products in a bartering system to get the things their family needed for survival.

The barter system was very important to the development of an economy before the use of money. People would trade any products they had for items they needed for survival. For example, a man who made clay pots could trade some of them to a farmer for wheat. Please note other examples of items used for barter listed below.

The Egyptian civilization flourished in the Nile Valley for over 3000 years until approximately 1100 BC.

Like many early civilizations, the economy of Egypt was based on farming.

The Nile with its annual flood deposited rich nutrients on the land, which led to bountiful crops.

The Egyptians used many innovative farming techniques including the development of an irrigation system in the arid climate.

During the time of the Egyptians, another great civilization was created in the region called Mesopotamia, located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

The climate of this area was exceptionally harsh and the land was not very fertile.

The people used an extensive irrigation system to increase their crop yields, which led to a surplus of grain.

Once again, the crop surplus enabled people to take other job, leading to the development of many items for trade.

The barter system was very strong in Mesopotamia.

It is important to remember there were other great civilizations that created successful economies. Two separate civilizations in the Indus River Valley in India and the Shang Dynasty of China began around 4000 BC.

All of these ancient peoples had to become successful farmers before they could develop their economies. The surplus of farm goods led to a rise in the population which increased demand and production.

The ability to successfully feed the population is still important today.

The Greek people conducted trade in their colonies in the Mediterranean around 750 BC.

The Greeks were the first people to create a government that protected the rights of all the people.

Greece did not have much fertile farmland, and had to turn to the sea for food and trade.

At the time the Greeks were flourishing, Rome was emerging as a strong city-state between 265 BC and 44 BC.

The early inhabitants of Rome were shepherds who had followed their herds into the Tiber River valley.

By 750 BC the people had settled in to a farming life and built several small villages.

In the early Republic, Roman society was dominated by a class of wealthy landowners called patricians.

The common people, including farmers, artisans, small merchants, and traders were called plebeians.

In the early Republic, Roman society was dominated by a class of wealthy landowners called patricians.

The common people, including farmers, artisans, small merchants, and traders were called plebeians.

In the early Republic most people were farmers who worked on small plots of land.

Later, as Rome expanded, its economy grew to include manufacturing and commerce.

In 451 BC, Rome's first written law code was carved onto 12 stone tablets that were set up in the forum or central marketplace.

The Twelve Tables protected all citizens from unfair treatment.

A new class of rich plebeians gained control of the government.

Their wealth came from the growing trade and industry of Rome.

This powerful new class guarded its power closely.

The Roman Empire had been expanded to include a vast territory of diverse peoples. This expansion of territory created problems for the Romans at home.

Three prizes of war, (grain, treasure and slaves), had a profound effect on life in the capital.

Take the Wheel!

This is your first opportunity to look at a civilization as a social scientist and answer this question.

What similarities do you see among the problems of the Roman Empire and American society today?

Consider the information contained in the following pages.

Tons of grain poured into Rome as a tribute or a forced payment from the conquered territories.

The resulting surplus drove down the price of grain.

The low prices hurt small farmers, many of whom had to sell their land to pay their debts.

Landless farmers drifted to Rome, where they joined unemployed soldiers also attracted to the capital.

In Rome the poor complained bitterly about the luxuries of the rich. As their numbers grew, the poor became a huge, restless mob easily swayed to violence by bribes and promises.

The economic and social problems created by the wars of expansion were to plague Rome for years.

Governing this vast territory was costly, especially paying soldiers along the frontiers.

When the wars of conquest ended, the government no longer had war loot to pay expenses, so it increased taxes.

Emperors tried to limit costs by reducing the size of the army.

But such cutbacks slowly weakened Roman defenses.

POINT TO PONDER!

During the 1990s the United States government has conducted a downsizing of the military, including the closure of bases around the United States. Perhaps a military base was closed in your state. The cutback on the military was prompted by the end of the Cold War after the fall of the Soviet Union.

How is this situation similar to the Roman Empire?

The economy suffered because Romans imported more goods than they exported.

Money, especially gold, flowed out of Rome to pay for imported luxuries.

In an effort to increase the supply of money at home, emperors issued new coins, mixing lead with the gold.

The addition of lead devalued the coins, or lowered their value, because their value was based on their gold content.

Since the devalued coins were worth less than older coins, merchants demanded more new coins for the same product, that is, they raised prices.

Higher prices, in turn, meant that more money was needed.

Yet problems such as inflation bothered few Romans as everyone scrambled for a share of the wealth.

Ultimately in the cities, heavy taxes and high unemployment meant less prosperity.

Point To Ponder!

We will come back to the problems of the Romans in later lessons.

You will see these types of social science problems throughout history.

Let's leave the Romans to move to one of their conquered territories, Western Europe.

Western Europe around the year 1000, was on the eve of its first great age of expansion.

Over the next three centuries it grew in population, wealth and the arts. The western European civilization expanded territorially in both the south and east.

Most of the people in western Europe obtained their basic living from farming or related occupations.

Therefore, climate and geography exercised a profound influence on individuals, communities, and entire societies.

The characteristics of the terrain, fertility of the soil, and rainfall dictated the productivity of the soil, which affected the maximum density of the population.

The characteristic unit of settlement, especially in northwestern Europe, was the peasant village. The characteristic form of economic and social organization was the feudal system.

This village system began to take shape in the last centuries of the Roman Empire. A typical village might contain from 20 to 200 households (perhaps 80 to 1,000 inhabitants).

In the second half of the 11th century, Western Europe entered an era of economic growth in the following areas:

- improvements in farming techniques

- rise in population

- clearing of much new land for the production of food

- increase in the size and number of towns

• expansion in both local and international trade

The surplus production was exchanged for manufactured goods from the growing towns, breaking down the tendency toward manorial self-sufficiency.

New towns sprang up and old ones grew nearly everywhere in western and central Europe.

For three hundred years or so after 1050, trade continued to spread throughout Western Europe, permitting greater local and regional specialization in production and larger accumulations of wealth.

The economic expansion of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries slowed down or leveled off in the first half of the fourteenth century.

Around 1350, the economy of Western Europe sank into a long depression, lasting in most parts of Europe approximately one hundred years.

In spite of the depressed conditions, the period witnessed continued changes in economic organization and commercial institutions in the direction of modern capitalism.

Evidence of the great depression that began in the middle of the fourteenth century can be found in the movement of population and prices, changes in agriculture, commerce, and industry. The depression also resulted in social unrest, political disturbances and warfare.

There was widespread social discontent that boiled over into regional and class warfare.

The majority of these social and economic problems were caused by the black plague, declining markets and oppressive taxation.

The people of the Old World in Western Europe were looking for solutions to their economic and social problems. Little did they know that these solutions would take them away from their countries to the New World.

Meanwhile, in the fifteenth century, improvements in the techniques of shipbuilding and navigation facilitated a renewed interest in oceanic exploration and overseas trade.

Summary

This concludes our examination of the World Economy to 1500.

Our study will now take us into the exciting time of exploration and the beginning of our modern economy.

Please don't miss the valuable information contained in the graphics. You can look at this information by clicking once on the graphic to enlarge the picture and once more to shrink it to its original size. Some of the test questions will be taken from the information in the graphics.