Discuss four characteristics of the proto- …

The large-scale industrial production for an international market took place before the new factories came up. These production was not based on factories. This initial phase of industrialisation is referred as 'proto-industrialisation' by many historians.

1. Even before factories began to dot the landscape in England and Europe there was industrial production for international market which was not based on factories
2. Merchants from the town in Europe began moving to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for an international market.
3. With the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies in different parts of the world, the demand for goods began to increase.
4. But merchants could not expand production with in towns. This was because the urban crafts and trade guilds there were powerful.
5. In the countryside poor peasants and artisans began working for merchants. This was a time when open field were disappearing and commons were being enclosed.