Cause and Consequences of urbanization in Scotland Essay Example for Free

Cause and Consequences of urbanization in Scotland Essay This essay will explore relevant cause and consequences of urbanisation in Scotland from 1700-1860. A dictionary-defined term would be the social process whereby cities grow and societies become more urban.(1. 30/08/2005). Scotland went through huge political and economical changes from the 1700s onwards. The country went from being a rural, agricultural society with an estimated population of 1.2 million in 1755, to being urbanised, with the population rising to over 2.6 million in 1841(Lenman, p281, 2001). This figure is what makes the urbanisation of Scotland so interesting. What were the main factors that caused the population to grow so rapidly? The expansion of population over such a short period and the social changes that occurred with this. The great Agrarian and Industrial revolutions had a major parts to play in the urbanisation of Scotland and this essay will show some enlightenment on why it was so profoundly noticeable in Scotland. Another point that will be investigated is the consequences of urbanisation, how the country ultimately became a modern capitalised country from its rural beginnings. Before and up until 1750, Scotland was very much a feudalistic country. Lords rented tenants enough land for them to produce food to survive. In return, the tenant would have to labour the Lords land as well as his own. The Landlord would reap the benefits, the tenant would survive, and as the majority of the people depended on the land as their lively-hood, it was a means to survival. As Devine states,_ In 1750 only one Scot in eight lived in a town (population of 4000 or over) and there was only four towns with more than 10000 inhabitants_ (Devine, 1999, p125). This shows the enormity of Scots who were living in rural communities, with the main labour being in agriculture, weaving and fishing. The changes to agriculture began with those known as the improvers, whose main outlook was to modernise the way the land was cultivated. As the population of the country began to accelerate quickly, the improvers were looking to produce mass food instead of the old way of cultivation. During the period between 1790-1840 new farming equipment was introduced and the land that was formally cultivated  using the infield-outfield and rug and furrow method was improved by enclosing the land into fields making it more productive for crops and for livestock Crop rotations were also introduced which was making use of the land at all times. The introduction of single tenant farming as opposed to ferm-touns meant the beginning of the clearances, as well as agricultural tools becoming more efficient. The introduction of threshing machines reduced manual labour and the Smalls plough a two horse plough replaced the Scots plough which required a team of oxen and horses (Devine, 1998, p138). These new ideas did create more food but they also left people homeless and jobless, as there was less labour needed, which left people no choice but to move on into the towns and cities where industry had began creating jobs. The growth of the towns and cities were intricately linked with the agrarian revolution as the mass population relied on the land for the food it produced. The other main point that Devine makes is that as the agricultural market started to accelerate, the need for exchange centres that provided legal, commerce and financial facilities for the rural communities became more prominent, so several towns including Perth, Ayr and Dumfries became the provider of these services. This again contributed to expansion of towns, as people were required to work and live in the towns to facilitate these positions (Devine 1998, p32) Therefore, we can gather that three major changes occurred at the same time and they contributed towards urbanisation in Scotland: The agrarian revolution along with the population growth, and the expansion of the manufacturing industry. As T.M Devine States, _Urbanisation could not have taken place without a substantial increase in food production to sustain the needs of those who did not cultivate their own food supplies. At the same time, agrarian productivity had to improve in order to release a growing proportion of the population for non-agricultural tasks in towns and cities._ (Devine, 1998, p32) Along with theses changes the manufacturing industry began to grow rapidly. Scotland was a major player in the transatlantic trading industry and due to its geographical position, it was booming in the tobacco trade and it would go on to prosper in cotton and linen too. Scotlands Geographical position at this time was very important as it is situated between the Atlantic and Europe, which meant trading from one to the other, was very successful. The two major factors of the Industrial Revolution were, the textile industry and the productivity of the steam engine, which was revolutionised by James Watt in 1769 (Watt James online, 2005). Textiles factories and coalmines could produce more goods and they did not need to be near a water source in order to run. Due to this, the larger towns and cities began to grow rapidly. _Greenock in 1700 had a population of 2000 and by 1831 it had rose to 27500._ _Glasgow went from 31700 to 147000._ _Paisley went from 6800 to 47000._ _Kilmarnock went from 4400 to 12700_ _Falkirk went from 3900 to 11500. All within the time period from 1740-1850 (Devine 1998, p35)_ The population growth over the short period is the most significant point here as this is what made urbanisation in Scotland different. There are many different factors that affected the population growth but some are more significant than others are. Irish Immigration was very prominent and the migration of people from the rural areas had a major impact. For example:_ The majority of the migrants were young adults more concentrated in the marriageable and childbearing age groups than were the native inhabitants. High Migration because of its age composition was therefore likely to fuel natural increase in the urban areas_.(Devine 1998,p41) At the same time the  highlanders were leaving the land either through force as the lords applied the new cultivation techniques to the land or through choice. The majority chose to immigrate to America; this did not affect the population growth as many Irish migrants were coming to Scotland looking for employment in the booming industries. _Urbanisation meant more jobs, a wider diversity of social contacts and infinitely greater colour and excitement in the lives of the masses_ (Devine 1998 p43) Mortality rates demonstrate their huge impact on population growth too. It has been suggested that lower death rates, through natural immunity to disease highly contributed to urbanisation, as in the early 1800s the death rate had fallen to 25 per 1000. This suggests that natural immunity and high levels of unemployment accelerated the population growth (Devine, 1998, p48). The effect of industrialisation was economically good for the country, but with it came poverty. The majority of the working class lived in overcrowded housing areas known as slums with no sanitation, and were rife with disease. As Devine argues, during periods of industrial recession when employment had slumped, there were also periods of disease epidemic. These began in 1817-1820(Typhoid), 1826-27(Typhoid) and in 1830-1832, a cholera epidemic that wiped out 10000 people. Periods of recession run parallel, the first being 1816-1818, 1825 and then 1836 (Devine, 1999, p168). In 1839, Death rates rose to 29 per 1000. People were forced to live in abominable living conditions with huge sanitations problems, the towns and cities could not cope with the urban growth and disease was the outcome. Overcrowded, sub-divided housing was a problematic issue in all the major Towns and Cities, especially in Glasgow. _I did not believe until I visited Glasgow, that so large an amount of filth, crim e, misery and disease existed in one spot in any one civilised country (_Butt J, 1987 p41-42). People were customised to living in filthy dark, damp squalid conditions amongst disease. As the periods of recession were leaving thousands out of work in a state of poverty, the poor law amendment act was passed in 1845, which replaced the old poor relief laws of the parishes taking responsibly for the  poor. The new law allowed a claim to be made under supervision of a board of examiners, it came in the form of indoor relief, which would be admission to a poorhouse if subject had lost the ability to work, and outdoor relief, which was for short-term illness, and this may have been in the form of payment or medicine. It could be argued that the industrial revolution was the birth of the working class and capitalism in this country. Those who owned the factories and docks made a great profit and a middle class lifestyle was adopted. This could be said to be the division of the classes, with the help of the industrial revolution, people developed a working class or middle class att itude, In conclusion, the evidence points out that several major factors occurred that accelerated the urban growth of the nation. The Agrarian revolution started the mass migrating and the industrial revolution provided the work force in order for capitalism to evolve. The consequences of urbanisation were overwhelming, yes the economy did thrive, but at what cost to the working class people, death, disease and misery.

beach erosion Essay -- essays research papers

. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is the 208-foot tall landmark was just hauled more than a quarter-mile back from its former perch, where it was threatened by the encroaching sea. Coastal erosion chewed away about 1,300 feet of beach, bringing the waves to within 150 feet of the 4,800-ton sentinel. When the light was erected in 1870, it stood about 1,500 feet back from the waves. The lighthouse, on the Outer Banks, North Carolina's long barrier beach, was built to warn ships from waters called "the graveyard of the Atlantic." Ironically, the move should serve as a warning about the growing problem of coastal erosion. Erosion is not just plaguing the Outer Banks. Coastal residents up and down the United States are worrying about undermined cliffs, disappearing beaches, and the occasional dwelling diving into the briny. Beaches are constantly moving, building up here and eroding there, in response to waves, winds, storms and relative sea level rise. Yet when commo ners like you and me, and celebs like Steven Spielberg, build along the beach in places like Southampton, N. Y., we don't always consider erosion. After all, real-estate transactions are seldom closed during hurricanes or northeasters, which cause the most dramatic damage to beaches. Yet Southampton, like all the barrier beaches that protect land from the sea, is vulnerable to obliteration by the very factor that makes it so glamorous: the sea. And the problem is increasing because the sea is rising after centuries of relatively slow rise, and scientists anticipate that the rate of rise will continue to increase in the next century. Land, in many places, is also slowly sinking. The result is a loss of sand that places the occasional beachside home inconveniently near -- or in -- the water. Still, erosion cuts in two directions. Without the process of erosion, we would not have the beaches, dunes, barrier beaches, and the highly productive bays and estuaries that owe their very exist ence to the presence of barrier beaches. Erosion of glacial landforms provides most of the beach sand in Massachusetts. A popular destination The beach-erosion problem has many causes. Among them are: Â · The ubiquitous desire to live near the sea. Â · A historically rapid ri... ...er -- as determined by the grounding line -- the upshot seems to be relative stability. "The ice streams do not appear to be susceptible to the kind of unstable retreat once envisaged," says Bentley. "Their flow is largely insensitive to the presence of the ice shelf so the grounding line would remain the same." Instead of possibly collapsing in 100 years, as was considered possible 10 years ago, Bentley says the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is more likely to collapse -- if at all -- in perhaps 5,000 years at the soonest. Dean, Cornelia. Against the Tide: The Battle for America's Beaches. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. Hanley, Robert. As Beaches Erode, a Debate on Who'll Pay for Repairs.The New York Times, Apr. 20, 1998, P. A1. Kossoff, Julian and Kate Watson-Smyth. Fake Beaches Wreak Havoc on Sea Life. The Independent (London), Aug. 2, 1998, p. 5. Moran, Kevin. Future of Beach Homes Is Uncertain as Shifting Sand.The Houston Chronicle, May 1, 1999, p. A1. Lambert Bruce. Lines in the Sand: The Beach as Battleground. The New York Times, May 23, 1999, p. LI14. Martin Douglas. Report Warns New York of Perils of Global Warming. The New York Times, June 30, 1999, p. B5.

A reflection on the book `Krik?Krak`

1. What is the significance of writing in CHILDREN OF THE SEA? This is where the narrator recollects about her past. Writing the Children of the Sea was deemed significant for the flow of the book because all the rest of the story were just products of the memories or records of the life of the character as she was on board a ship to Miami. It was a contrast of life and death as the main character writes about her life while a girl of fifteen gives birth to a baby and the baby eventually dies. 2. In NINETEEN THIRTY-SEVEN, why do the women travel to the river so often? A quote from the book says â€Å"The River was the place where it had all begun† (41) answers the question on why women travel so often to the rivers. They go to the river to escape the horrors of their own land. To escape death and seizure her mother swam the river that crosses between the Dominican Republic and her native country, the Haiti. Her grandmother on the other hand, being too weak to swim was caught and killed in Haiti. 3. Explain the significance of the list at the sugar mill in THE WALL OF FIRE RISING. Why doesn`t the mother want his son`s name on the list?  In The Wall of the Fire Rising, a couple is trying to raise their son without tainting his soul with poverty and hopelessness.   This is the main reason why his mother doesn’t want his name to be signed at the sugar mill. The Childs parents don’t want the boy to serve as slave in the Mill. The child however grew fascinated in the works of Boukman, a declaration of freedom and slave revolution. 4. How does (social) class become significant in BETWEEN THE POOL AND THE GARDENIAS? To further stress the importance of class in Between the Pool and the Gardenias, I quote an excerpt from the book which says â€Å"Her lips were wide and purple, like those African dolls you see in tourist store windows but never could afford to buy.† The character is that of a young woman who have had many miscarriages before since she can’t afford better healthcare for her baby. She is now in denial of her child’s death and is drawn to a dead child that she has seen on the streets. Though the corps is decaying, she can’t seem to take her eyes of the child and continues to visit her. She wants to give the child proper burial but such would require money. 5. Reread the conversation between the girl and her grandmother on page 107 in THE MISSING PEACE. Why does the grandmother feel hostility toward the visitor? In the Missing Peace, two desperate women where brought together amidst the chaos of the fall of the old regime. The narrator, Lamort, helps an American journalist named Emilie in finding her mother. Lamorts grandmother feel hostility toward the visitor for the simple reason that she was American in a foreign country and she fears that their quest for the journalist mother would put her grandchild in danger. 6. Both death and life function as major themes in SEEING THINGS SIMPLY. How does painting work with those two ideas? According to the character, the painting serves as a memoir for her as shown by the excerpt, â€Å"to have something to leave behind even after she is gone.† Through her paintings life was preserved but as her real reason for making the painting unfolds, it foreshadows death. 7. Danticat places the traditions of Haiti and Haitian culture at odds with Americans and American customs in CAROLINE`S WEDDING. Offer an example of this relationship and its significance to the story. In Caroline’s Wedding, clash of   Haitan and American culture was portrayed as Caroline is not having a church wedding which is very important to their tradition.   The difference between the American and Haitan culture was further illustrated when Coroline said to her mom in one of their arguments that they don’t want to spend money a single day just to please the rest of the crowd while leaving them bankrupt. It is cheaper to get married in court than in the church, the way all Haitan Weddings are held. They said that her husbands’ friend who is a judge will be the one to wed the couple in his office and not in the church. 8. The text closes with writing once again in the Epilogue. What is the significance of writing for this author? What does the Epilogue reveal about Danticat? The Epilogue provides substance and unity for the rest of the story as one would get to understand that she is writing of different generations of women who are bounded by struggles. When asked what the essence of writing for her is, the author said in the last part that the act is pretty much like braiding ones hair; you take a clump of rowdy stands and try to unify its strands to make it bigger and stronger.      

Critical Analysis of Plato’s Apology 40c-42a - 2143 Words

Critical Analysis of Plato’s Apology 40c-42a Plato’s Apology is one of the most well-known pieces of Plato’s writing today, perhaps due to a certain dramatic style and context that can appeal to any reader. The ‘Apology’ is the defence speech of Socrates before the court at a trial for his life. He has been accused of deliberately corrupting the young and of non-belief in the Athenians’ gods. It is widely accepted that this is a true event, Socrates was tried, found guilty and put to death. What is not known for certain is the accuracy of Plato’s account of his defence. David Leibowitz tells us that the Greek title is ambiguous and could mean a defence speech either for or by Socrates. From this it is hard to discern if the Apology as†¦show more content†¦Socrates supposes that anyone, private person or Great King, would have fewer days or nights more pleasant than a night of dreamless sleep. The reference to the Persian King lends emphasis to his theory in that the Persian ki ngs were often seen as a paradigm of worldly happiness . If even a man such as this would prefer a night of dreamless sleep to most of his other days then it must surely be a very pleasant thing. Socrates ignores here the issue that this sleep would be endless, so leaving the sleeper unable to ever appreciate it in the only way humanly possible, by contrast to other nights and days. Another interesting interpretation of the king as example is raised by T.G. West. He suggests that the Persian King might prefer to be asleep than awake due to a faulty way of life. Tarrant tells us the King is a paradigm of worldly happiness but West calls him a â€Å"paradigm of someone who cares for money and his body instead of how his soul will become the best and most prudent possible† . If we accept this interpretation it would seem that Socrates is making a subtly ironic comment on the good of death, that it is merely good for someone whose life is unsatisfactory. If this is truly Socrates’ view, has he inadvertently told us that his life is unsatisfactory? If so it surely cannot be for the same reasons as a political man such as the king who has neglected the