March 24th - The roots of capitalism

 Apologies if this is all a bit basic. I think that understanding where capitalism came from and how it has spread and evolved is important for my understanding of what's happening in our world today.   I'll try to make it short.

A convenient time to start is with the background to the Industrial Revolution in England in the18^th Century when the vast majority of the world's population were living rural lives largely sustained by the produce of their patch of land and the support of the local community, much as happens in so-called 'undeveloped' countries today.  

The first requirement for industrialisation was money to invest which I've gathered came from the great landowners and the merchant capitalist class. Centuries earlier, as soon as men became mobile and able to move out of their own territory, they plundered far off lands or became merchants who made money by buying anything they could get their hands on and selling it at a profit.  From Roman times when olive oil poured into ancient Rome making a hefty profit for merchants, the more transport became viable the greater the opportunity to make money by buying cheap and selling dear.  This so-called ‘mercantile capitalism’ made merchants very rich (some of the wool merchants' houses in Suffolk are pretty impressive) so they had money to invest in industrial production when conditions were right.  And just what were those conditions?    I'll think about that next ...