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History of the world economy - Polyak GB

ECONOMY OF COUNTRIES OF THE ANCIENT EAST

The history of the ancient Eastern states that arose in the IV millennium BC. E. In Mesopotamia, Egypt, China allows us to study the most important stage in the development of mankind - the disintegration of the clan system, the emergence of classes and ancient slave societies, the creation of states, the beginning of civilizations and the economy as an organized sphere of human activity.

Separation of cattle breeding from agriculture, the development of agriculture and the allocation of crafts, the emergence of metallurgy caused the need for additional labor. It became mainly captives, who were turned into slavery. The growth of production gave an excess product, which became the object of exchange. There was a trade, and then money. The clan community gradually disintegrates. Wars and trade increased property stratification. There is a first division of society into classes - slave owners and slaves. To protect the interests of owners, property, slave owners and protection from external danger, a state is created.

The first states that have arisen in the Ancient East take the form of despotism - all supreme power belongs to the king. Formally, all the land in the state belonged to the tsar, but in fact, a large part of it was in the hands of free people - community members who defended their rights in the struggle against the central government. This eternal struggle was the leitmotif of the many thousands of years of history of the states of the planet, the history of their economies.

2. The Economics of Mesopotamian States

Characteristics of the country and its peoples

One of the first, emerged on our planet in the IV millennium BC. E. Were the ancient states of Mesopotamia - the countries located between the Caucasus in the north and the Persian Gulf in the south, between the Syrian steppe in the west and the mountainous regions of Iran in the east (the territory of modern Iraq). From north to south, the country is crossed by two large rivers Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers created a fertile valley from the river deposits and served as good transport routes connecting the states of Mesopotamia with their neighbors.

The country since ancient times was inhabited by Sumerian and Semitic tribes. The Sumerians, who came to Mesopotamia from the eastern mountain regions in the 4th millennium BC. E., Created the state of Sumer.

Semites , who lived in the V millennium BC. E. In the region of northern Africa, gradually settled in Arabia, the Syrian steppe, and then Mesopotamia, where the state was created Akkad , and later the state of Babylon . On the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, they created the most ancient states on the territory of Syria, Phenicia, Palestine. To the Semitic peoples in antiquity belonged the Egyptians, the inhabitants of Akkad, Babylon, Assyria, Amorites, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Jews, Arameans *.

* At present, the Semitic peoples include Arabs, Jews, Maltese, New Persian, Arabian and Ethiopian peoples.

Even in ancient times they were domesticated wild pigs, sheep, goats, cattle, donkeys. The warm climate, the presence of water and fertile soil contributed to domestication approximately VI-VIII thousand years BC. E. Barley, wheat, other crops, the development of agriculture. These tribes gave the world the first plow and plow, irrigation system. A large amount of viscous alluvial (alluvial) clay served as the basis for its wide use in pottery. The first pottery circle on the planet appeared in Mesopotamia in the first half of the V millennium BC. E. Here for the first time began to be made clay bricks, which became the basis of construction equipment. Emerged from the VIII millennium BC. E. In the Middle East, the metallurgical treatment of copper, and in the V-HU millennium BC. E. Production of bronze products and, finally, in the II millennium BC. E. Iron products contributed to the rapid development of productive forces in this region.

State formation and economic development

Approximately until 2340 BC. E. In Mesopotamia, there were two major states: the Sumer State (Sumer) in the south and the state of the Semites (Akkad) in the north. The Akkadian king Sargon I managed by means of conquests to unite these states in a single Shumero-Akkadian kingdom. The unification of these states positively affected the economy of Mesopotamia. This made it possible to regulate the entire river and irrigation system of Mesopotamia, which improved both the transport and irrigation network. The introduction of a unified system of measures and weight contributed to improving trade. The growth of agriculture, handicrafts and trade, and on this basis, the strengthening of finances made it possible to maintain a strong permanent army of 5,400 soldiers. This created an opportunity not only to strengthen its borders, but also to wage wars of conquest. The troops of Sargon reached the Mediterranean Sea in the west and even in Asia Minor. Thus, Sargon created a large state that claimed hegemony in the Near East.

Even greater dimensions reached the Akkadian state in 2220 BC. E. With one of the kings of the Sargon dynasty - Naramsine. With it, Elam was added to the east, the Arabian regions to the south and the Upper Tigris to the north.

However, the continuous wars waged by the Akkadian kings depleted the economy of the state and it was in 2007 BC. E. Fell under the onslaught of the Semitic nomadic tribes of the Amorites who invaded from the west, and the Elamites who attacked from the east.

After many years of wars with the Elamites, the Amorites defeated and created in 1897 BC. E. The Babylonian kingdom. The greatest prosperity of the Babylonian kingdom came under the reign of King Hammurabi, who again united the lands of Mesopotamia and became famous in history not so much for his aggressive campaigns as for the creation of the code of laws - the code of Hammurabi . This code is the most important historical source for studying the social system and economic life of the ancient Eastern state.

The peculiarity of the economy of the most ancient states of Mesopotamia was the coexistence of a rural community with a slave economy. The preservation of the rural community was determined by the specific nature of the environment. The hot climate of the country demanded irrigation in agriculture, but the constant floods of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, significant waterlogging required drainage of the land. In these conditions, the population had to create a lot of irrigation facilities. Their construction was possible only by combining the efforts of many people. All this preserved the community, which from the clan became rural.

The climatic conditions of crop production necessitated the creation of a system of drainage and irrigation canals, coordination and integration of people's efforts from different regions. This was beyond the strength of one community. Therefore, one of the reasons for the early establishment of the state was the need to unite and coordinate the work of numerous communities in the field of irrigation. The state maintained the entire irrigation network in order, and the communities - its individual plots.

The construction of large irrigation systems, temples, palaces, and the management of the palace and temple economy required an increase in labor. The source of it was either prisoners of war or local residents who fell into bondage and became slaves. The slaves were bought and sold. The price for a slave ranged from 14 to 20 shekels in silver (the shekel was about 8 g of silver). It should be noted that slavery in the ancient Eastern states was still undeveloped, in many ways domestic. The Hammurabi Code defended not only the interests of the slaveholder, but also the slave: article 282 of the code established the slave's punishment for disobeying the gentleman, and in Article 117 it was established that in the slavery the person could not stay more than three years, after which he had to be released. ; article; 116 stated that if the son of a free man, taken into debt slavery by a creditor, died in the creditor's house of ill-treatment, the son of the creditor could be betrayed for this death.

In addition to communal and slave labor, hired labor was also used. The impoverished community members were hired to work for wealthy and rich people. The law of King Eshnunna (about the twentieth century BC) established the wage rate and the material responsibility of the farm laborer for uncompleted work.

The need for significant irrigation works led to the strengthening of the role of the state in the country's economy, and the establishment of a form of land ownership. The first kings seized part of the communal lands for themselves and for the priests. Thus, palace and temple facilities were created. In addition, the tsar became the land captured as a result of wars. In the future, all the land in the state was declared belonging to the king, who distributed it to priests, officials, military and courtiers. Communities used the land of the tsar and for this they carried in favor of the king of duty and paid taxes. The royal lands were also leased out, formalized by an agreement, in which the object of lease was indicated, the amount of rent, the time of payment. Usually the rent was paid in kind, part of the harvest. In order to protect the interests of the owner of the land, article 62 of the Hammurabi Code established that when yields were lowered due to poor land cultivation, the rent did not decrease and its size was levied on the basis of the average yield in that locality. To encourage the development of virgin land, the tenant was allowed to pay rent for it in the second year of the lease.

The new forms of land ownership testified to social stratification, the concentration of land in a narrow circle of landowners. The class stratification is characterized by such data: the high priest received 36 hectares of land, the priest - 18 hectares, the official - 15 hectares, the small landowner - from several hundredths to 2 hectares.

The lack of suitable land for the economy, as well as the struggle for power, led already in ancient times to the confiscation of land, when kings, in order to strengthen their political power and economic basis, often resorted to the secularization of temple farms, taking their land for their needs or handing over to their officials And the military.

Agriculture

The basis of the economy of the ancient Eastern countries was agriculture. At the first stages of the development of ancient society it was cattle breeding. To the west of the Euphrates stretched the Syrian steppe, which created good opportunities for the breeding of sheep, goats, cattle. Large flocks of sheep and goats became the basis for obtaining raw materials for weaving, and bulls - working cattle for farming.

Fertile soil, good climate contributed to agriculture. But the swampy places in Mesopotamia, because of the annual spills of the Tigris and the Euphrates, required a lot of labor in agriculture. The same gave impetus to the development of the irrigation farm, the creation of tools, the plow, and later - the plow. A suitable climate for crop cultivation, hard work of the inhabitants gave good harvests. The main grain crop - barley yielded an average yield of 36, and in good years the harvest exceeded 100 ha.

Growing barley was used not only for the production of bread flour, but also for the production of beer (about 40%), the technology of which was developed in Mesopotamia about 3000 BC. E. The quality of production and the price of beer sales were regulated by the state. So, in the Hammurabi code it was established that persons selling beer at inflated prices were punished by dropping them into the river. If traders did not report on their occupation, secretly selling beer, then they could be sentenced to death.

An important branch of agriculture was horticulture, viticulture, and vegetable growing. Particular attention was paid to the cultivation of the date palm, which was even considered a sacred tree. The date palm was widely bred, ennobled. To increase the yield already 4000 years ago, its artificial pollination was applied. The state in every possible way supported gardening and protected gardens. The Hammurabi Code set a high penalty - half a silver (252 grams of silver) for cutting a garden tree in a foreign garden. A large number of gardens in the country, their good condition became the foundation of the legend of Mesopotamia as a paradise garden.

Crafts and Industry

The development of agriculture, the creation of the state, and with it the tsar's court, troops, bureaucracy, cities, served as a rapid separation from agriculture of handicrafts as an independent industry.

Since there were few forests in the country, clay, reeds, cane were widely used as structural material. This served as the basis for the development of pottery and brick production. Clay was also the material for writing. Even the cuneiform writing itself was the result of the use of clay (it was more convenient to extrude signs on clay tablets). Reeds and reeds were used for making wicker items and in shipbuilding. Reed ships sailed not only along rivers, but also by sea.

The appearance of metallurgical production gave impetus to the production first of copper, later bronze and iron products intended for agriculture, construction, for domestic life. Precious metals were made of magnificent jewelry, which are still treasures of the world's largest museums.

In the technology of jewelry production casting in molds, soldering, riveting, rolling metals into sheets, granulation invented in Mesopotamia 4500 years ago was used. The smallest balls of precious metals were pasted onto a metal surface with a paste made of fish glue, copper hydroxide and water, after which the product was fired. This technology of jewelry production penetrated into Europe, but in the Middle Ages its secret was lost and was reopened only in 1933.

The developed cattle breeding provided raw materials for leather production. The skin was widely used in everyday life (shoes, harness, containers for wine, water, loose materials), in military equipment (shells, quivers, helmets), like writing material resembling parchment. Sheep and goat wool became the basis for the origin of textile production. Fabrics were made not only from wool, but from linen, and then cotton.