Daily Life in the Old Regime329twenty-first century are also accustomed to life in
densely concentrated populations. New York City has a
population density of more than fifty-five thousand
people per square mile, and Maryland has a population
density of nearly five hundred people per square mile.
The eighteenth century did not know such crowding:
Great Britain had a population density of fifty-five peo-
ple per square mile; Sweden, six (see table 18.1).
Life in a rural world of sparse population was also
shaped by the difficulty of travel and communication.
The upper classes enjoyed a life of relative mobility
that included such pleasures as owning homes in both
town and country or taking a “grand tour” of historic
cities in Europe. Journeymen who sought experience in
their trade, agricultural laborers who were obliged to
migrate with seasonal harvests, and peasants who were
conscripted into the army were all exceptions in a
world of limited mobility. Geographic obstacles, poor
roads, weather, and bandits made travel slow and risky.
For most people, the pace of travel was walking beside
a mule or ox-drawn cart. Only well-to-do people trav-
eled on horseback, fewer still in horse-drawn carriages
(see illustration 18.1). In 1705 the twenty-year-old Jo-
hann Sebastian Bach wished to hear the greatest organ-
ist of that era perform; Bach left his work for two weeks
and walked two hundred miles to hear good music.
Travelers were at the mercy of the weather, which
often rendered roads impassable because of flooding,
mud, or snow. The upkeep of roads and bridges varied
greatly. Governments maintained a few post roads,
but other roads depended upon the conscription of
local labor. An English law of 1691, for example, simply
required each parish to maintain the local roads and
bridges; if upkeep were poor, the government fined the
parish. Brigands also hindered travel. These bandits
might become heroes to the peasants who protected
them as rebels against authority and as benefactors of
the poor, much as Robin Hood is regarded in EnglishPopulation density is measured by the number of people
per square mile.
Population Population
density in density in
Country 1700 the 1990s
Dutch republic (Netherlands) 119 959
Italian states (Italy) 112 499
German states (Germany) 98 588
France 92 275
Great Britain 55 616
Spain 38 201
Sweden 6 50
Source: Jack Babuscio and Richard M. Dunn, eds., European Political
Facts, 1648–1789(London: Macmillian, 1984), pp. 335–53; and The
World Almanac and Book of Facts 1995(Mahwah, N.J.: World Almanac
Books, 1994), pp. 740–839.TABLE 18.1European Population DensityIllustration 18.1
Coach Travel.Horse-drawn car-
riages and coaches remained the primary
form of public transportation in Europe
before the railroad age of the nineteenth
century. Postal service, business, and
government all relied upon a network of
highways, stables, and coaching inns. In
this illustration, travelers in the Pyrenees
wait at a coaching station and hotel
while a wheel is repaired.