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5 - Patterns of urbanization, 1400 to 1800

from Part One - Global matrices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Peter Burke
Edited by
Jerry H. Bentley ,
Sanjay Subrahmanyam  and
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Jerry H. Bentley
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii, Manoa
Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
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Summary

This chapter deals with the process of urbanization, growth of cities, rise in the proportion of the population that lived in cities, and reorganization of cities that followed their growth and spread of urban attitudes and values. It looks at the Japanese, Chinese and European models to explain the patterns of urbanization. Urbanization in early modern Japan was essentially stimulated from within the country. The urban revolution of China was made possible by a rising population, which in turn depended on an agricultural revolution. Given the political fragmentation of the continent, polycentrism is obvious in the case of Europe. The rise of cities in the Middle East and India in the early modern period seems to have happened more for political reasons. The colonial city was established to control the region or manage the unequal trade between colony and metropolis. In all regions, some cities were market-oriented, growing for essentially economic reasons, while the capitals in particular, were state-oriented.
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 107 - 132
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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