Explain the process of production in …

(1) In the 17th and 18th centuries, merchants from the towns in Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market.

(2) Merchants could not expand production within towns because urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful. So, they turned to the countryside.

(3) In the countryside, poor peasants and artisans began working for merchants. Cottagers and poor peasants who had earlier depended on common lands for their survival, gathering firewood, berries, vegetables, etc., had to now look for alternative sources of income.

(4) By working for the merchants, they remained in the countryside and continued to cultivate their small plots. It allowed them a fuller use of their family labour resources.

(5) Within this system, a close relationship developed between the town and the countryside. Merchants were based in towns but the work was done mostly in the countryside.