NCERT · Class 10 · Social Science · History: The Age of IndustrialisationWhat is meant by 'Proto-industrialization'? Explain why merchants moved to the countryside during this period.

Proto-industrialization refers to the phase of industrialization that existed before the factory system. Even before factories began to dot the landscape in England and Europe, there was large-scale industrial production for an international market. This was not based on factories but was controlled by merchants. Merchants from towns moved to the countryside, supplying money to peasants and artisans, persuading them to produce for international markets. With the expansion of world trade and the acquisition of colonies, the demand for goods began growing. In towns, urban crafts and trade guilds were powerful; they maintained control over production, regulated competition and prices, and restricted the entry of new people into the trade. Rulers granted different guilds the monopoly right to produce and trade in specific products. Therefore, it was difficult for new merchants to set up business in towns. Consequently, they turned to the countryside where poor peasants and artisans began working for them to supplement their shrinking income from small plots of land. This system was part of a network of commercial exchanges.