The medieval Malthusian cycle ran from about 500 C.E. to 1350 C.E.
Population graphs show the overall shape of the cycle, as populations slowly
rose throughout Eurasia from the middle of the millennium before crashing
in the middle of the 14th century. Commerce developed so quickly during
this cycle that historian Robert Lopez claimed there was a “commercial
revolution” in the later Middle Ages.
Populations grew fastest in regions such as South China or eastern Europe
that had previously been underpopulated frontier regions. Population growth
stimulated commerce, urbanization, and cultural efÀ orescence. The number
and size of cities increased throughout Eurasia. Baghdad and Cairo were
among the largest cities in the Muslim
lands that dominated the Eurasian
heartland; but by the end of the cycle,
China was probably the most urbanized
region in the world. Hangzhou, the capital
of the Southern Song dynasty in China,
may have been the world’s largest city,
with at least a million inhabitants.
Trade networks reached further than ever
before. Muslims dominated the silk roads,
but Europeans were increasingly active.
By 1300, the Vikings had reached Iceland, Greenland, and North America
(where they established a short-lived colony in Newfoundland in 1000 C.E.),
while Venetian traders such as Marco Polo had reached China.
Capitalism À ourished as wage earning and entrepreneurial activity expanded.
Everywhere, peasants made up most of the population. Yet in many regions,
peasants were sucked into capitalist networks. Government demands to pay
taxes in cash, land shortages, indebtedness, and the need to buy goods on
markets, all forced peasants to earn cash. They earned money by selling
surplus produce, by selling goods such as textiles manufactured in the
household, or by seeking wagework as laborers or in nearby towns. In such an
environment, entrepreneurs À ourished. Their power was particularly striking
at the edges of the great empires, in Southeast Asia, or the Mediterranean,
Commerce developed so
quickly during this cycle
that historian Robert
Lopez claimed there was
a “commercial revolution”
in the later Middle Ages.