A.d. 1701 to 1800

A.d. 1701 to 1800

Backward to A.D. 1601 to 1700

This century saw the gradual development of the idea of "Powers" rather then kings, as the dominant factors in international affairs, although prior to 1750 almost all people of the globe were ruled by hereditary rulers

Almost every country had its peddlers, who although usually poor, were merchants carrying their meager stock on their backs and filling in the gaps in the regular channels of distribution. In backward regions economically, such as Poland, the peddlers actually dominated trade. All the glassware of Europe was distributed by peddlers, even to Scandinavia, England, Russia and the Ottoman Empire. (Ref. 292 )

The christian church and the papacy

The "Age of Enlightenment"

The Society of Jesus was abolished by the pope in 1773. At the end of the century, incident to the anti-clericalism of the French Revolution, a French army invaded the papal territory, set up a revolutionary Roman Republic (1798) and took Pope Pius VI off to France where he died with a year. (Ref. 52 , 119 ) Methodism, one of the new branches of Protestantism, was developed in England. This will be further discussed in this chapter under the section on ENGLAND.

Islam

Through this century the entire Moslem world continued to be dedicated to its original concepts. Islam was not based on the world of Greece and Rome, but had been grafted on to the old Middle East, which was basically a trading civilization. The Muslim economy was an inherited set of trade links running between the merchants of Spain, North Af rica, Syria, Mesopotamia, Abyssinia, the Malabar coast, China and the East Indies. They inherited their gold dinar from Byzantium and their silver dirhem from Sassanid Persia. Mohammed himself had said: "He who makes money pleases God". (Ref. 292 ) Thus, Muslim merchants always enjoyed the best of considerations from their political rulers.

International jewry

In the Middle East, as well as central and western Europe, Jews were tolerated and generally well treated in this century, except that Empress Maria Therea launched a program to drive them from Bohemia and Moravia in 1743. (Ref. 222 ) In Russia the merchants of Moscow complained in 1790 that they were being undercut in pricing by Jews and rural tavern owners resented their competition in that field. To solve the latter problem, in 1795 Catherine ordered that Jews be allowed to register and obtain civil rights only in towns, thus effectively eliminating them from rural tavern operations. Finally, Jews were allowed to settle only within certain regions of Russia, which by 1800 included all Polish territory claimed by Russia and most of southern Russia, including Kiev and the Crimea.

Forward to A.D. 1801 to 1900