Population Growth in the 18th Century.

[jimmy olsen]

Reading through wikipedia and the rapid growth of population in 18th century Britain struck me as a bit odd. Neither medicine, nor agriculture seemed to advance by leaps and bounds during this period yet child mortality halved and the population doubled.  I can think of numerous significant advances in both medicine and agriculture from the 19th century, but only one from the 18th (the introduction of small pox inoculations [and it still wasn't nearly as effective or widespread as the vaccine of the 19th century]). What other great advances or trends am I missing? How did the industrial revolution impact this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdom#United_Kingdom

During the Industrial Revolution, the life expectancy of children increased dramatically. The proportion of the children born in London who died before the age of five decreased from 74.5 per thousand in 1730–1749 to 31.8 per thousand in 1810–1829.[5] According to Robert Hughes in The Fatal Shore, the population of England and Wales, which had remained steady at 6 million from 1700 to 1740, rose dramatically after 1740.

The first Census in 1801 revealed that the population of Great Britain was 10.5 million.[6][7] In 1800 the population of Ireland was between 4.5 and 5.5 million.[8][9]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_England#Historical_Population

1601 - 4,110,000 [4]
1651 - 5,228,000 [4]
1701 - 5,058,000 [4]
1751 - 5,772,000 [4]
1801 - 8,308,000 at the time of the first census. Census officials estimated at the time that there had been an increase of 77% in the preceding 100 years. In each county women were in the majority.[5] Wrigley and Schofield estimate 8,664,000 based on birth and death records.[4]

[Josquius]

.....the agricultural revolution?

Loads of advances in agriculture. Crop rotation was a big deal.
A lot of advances in steel making took place in the late 17th/early 18th centuries too. People always look at the big flashy stuff like steam engines and say thats the invention that counts...nope. The industrial revolution was all about steel. This also let more people have quality farming equipment. Lots of neat little advances there.
Horses tended to spread more amongst poorer people at this time too.

[Syt]

I'll have a look inside "Pursuit of Glory" later which probably covers that bit somewhere.

[Pedrito]

sanitation, gutters, etc.

L.

[garbon]

sanitation, gutters, etc.

L.

Get your mind out of the gutter!

[Oexmelin]

Historians have proposed a bunch of explanations.

Urban improvements & draining of marshes: these perhaps had greater effects than initially thought, because the disease associated with them tended to kill more children than adults. Urban growth, on the other hand, contributed to spreading other types of infection associated with parasites.

Better transport ensuring redistribution of foodstuffs.
New crops (potatoes, maize, tomatoes). Potatoes offer more diverse nutrients than grain.
Implementation of new practices (such as quarantine). Inoculation was still pretty limited to England and parts of the Ottoman Empire.
Warfare less deadly to civilians (while being more deadly to soldiers). In Britain, especially: no war means no devastated fields.

[Razgovory]

Well, Tim surprised me with his ignorance.

[jimmy olsen]

Well, Tim surprised me with his ignorance.

Off the top of my head I took college courses on the history of Colonial America, America 1763-1860, the American Civil War, America 1914-41, Germany-Austria-Bohemia 1648-1871, Germany-Austria-Czech 1871-1989, Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, 19th Century Europe, China 1644-present, Japan 1800-present, the History of Ancient Rome, the History of Ancient Greece, the History of the High Middle Ages, the History of American Sexuality, the Medieval Papacy, Classical Mythology, Women in Ancient Greece & Rome. 17-18th century Britain is not on that list. 

[Sheilbh]

17-18th century Britain is not on that list.

You missed out.  Also nowhere near enough France on that list

[Ed Anger]

Well, Tim surprised me with his ignorance.

Its hard to fit extra facts in when your head is filled with Anime.

[mongers]

Historians have proposed a bunch of explanations.

Urban improvements & draining of marshes: these perhaps had greater effects than initially thought, because the disease associated with them tended to kill more children than adults. Urban growth, on the other hand, contributed to spreading other types of infection associated with parasites.

Better transport ensuring redistribution of foodstuffs.
New crops (potatoes, maize, tomatoes). Potatoes offer more diverse nutrients than grain.
Implementation of new practices (such as quarantine). Inoculation was still pretty limited to England and parts of the Ottoman Empire.
Warfare less deadly to civilians (while being more deadly to soldiers). In Britain, especially: no war means no devastated fields.

I'm not sure this is the case, potatoes in several areas compare poorly with tradionally grown grains like wheat and oats.

[HVC]

You get more potatoes per plot of land so you can feed more people then oats.

[Oexmelin]

I'm not sure this is the case, potatoes in several areas compare poorly with tradionally grown grains like wheat and oats.

My understanding is that cooked potatoes offered more key nutrients (esp. vitamins) than bread made with transformed wheat or oats (at least 18th c. bread).

[Razgovory]

And you can grow potatoes in places that wheat will not grow.

There is no single reason for the growth of population in Britain, but many.  A few more not yet mentioned is that Britain was becoming increasingly wealthy in the 18th century.  This in addition to strong maritime links allowed the British to buy food from elsewhere in times of crop failure and otherwise supplement their diet.

[Razgovory]

Well, Tim surprised me with his ignorance.

Off the top of my head I took college courses on the history of Colonial America, America 1763-1860, the American Civil War, America 1914-41, Germany-Austria-Bohemia 1648-1871, Germany-Austria-Czech 1871-1989, Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, 19th Century Europe, China 1644-present, Japan 1800-present, the History of Ancient Rome, the History of Ancient Greece, the History of the High Middle Ages, the History of American Sexuality, the Medieval Papacy. 17-18th century Britain is not on that list.

I took none of those, but I learned about the agricultural revolution in high school.  Jethro Tull was more then just a band.