Did other large European cities exhibit similar phenomena during this time? It seems plausible to me that within language groups there might be one primate city that exercises an outsized pull effect. For English this appears to be London, but did this happen with Paris for French or perhaps Milan for Italian, Vienna for German speakers etc? If so, what are the parallel mechanisms by which these cities pulled newcomers in? Can we establish a common thread/theme? I'd be interested to know!
Thank you, this is a well constructed arguement and very enjoyable. With regard to point three. Are there any estimates for how large a portion of agricultural production was exported? Or for any subsets like grain, during this 1550-1650 period?
Presumably you see alignment with Bob Allen’s work on factor induced technical change, ie. Industrial innovation was driven by relative labour scarcity and the development of energy sources (coal), which were themselves driven by demand from London’s mercantile growth?
"If you stumble across more evidence or hints of London’s early pull, please do let me know!"
------------------------
Seems like a moment to mention the real life mercer, patron and Lord Mayor of London Richard Whittington, and in particular the mythology of migration in the form of the celebrated folk tale very loosely inspired by his life "Dick Whittington and his Cat" - which reflects a popular reception of ideas of migration to London, the perils and the possibilities>
Interesting, Anton. I’ve not engaged for a while. Feasts of county-men residing far from home is far from unknown in the rest of world. I am of course thinking of Chinese native place associations. These can be found anywhere in the world where there are large numbers of Chinese even today, and were hugely important in the past, serving protective, welfare, commercial and community functions. In parts of Southeast Asia the local state would devolve governance of the resident foreign community to those associations and their headmen. There’s a big literature on this, but these forms of sojourner associations and their activities, so common in many parts of the world over the centuries, probably have not been given as much attention in the UK context as they would seemingly deserve.
I think it's interesting to compare with the Netherlands (just using figures from Wikipedia here, forgive me):
British population in 1500: 3.9m
Dutch population in 1500: 1m
British population in 1700: 8.6m
Dutch population in 1700: 1.9m
As another commenter has pointed out, Amsterdam saw even faster growth than London. Perhaps the only reason London capped out so much larger was because it had a greater rural population to draw from. Even in 1700, London represented less than 7% of England's population. Over 25% of the Netherlands would have had to live in Amsterdam for it to reach the same size.
Theoretically, all those English migrants to London could have moved to Amsterdam instead, but why deal with a language barrier and foreign customs when there's a burgeoning commercial center in your own country?
Did other large European cities exhibit similar phenomena during this time? It seems plausible to me that within language groups there might be one primate city that exercises an outsized pull effect. For English this appears to be London, but did this happen with Paris for French or perhaps Milan for Italian, Vienna for German speakers etc? If so, what are the parallel mechanisms by which these cities pulled newcomers in? Can we establish a common thread/theme? I'd be interested to know!
I love this post, it gives a real insight into the texture of the past. Your Substack is delightfully informative, and so clearly written.
Thank you, this is a well constructed arguement and very enjoyable. With regard to point three. Are there any estimates for how large a portion of agricultural production was exported? Or for any subsets like grain, during this 1550-1650 period?
Presumably you see alignment with Bob Allen’s work on factor induced technical change, ie. Industrial innovation was driven by relative labour scarcity and the development of energy sources (coal), which were themselves driven by demand from London’s mercantile growth?
"If you stumble across more evidence or hints of London’s early pull, please do let me know!"
------------------------
Seems like a moment to mention the real life mercer, patron and Lord Mayor of London Richard Whittington, and in particular the mythology of migration in the form of the celebrated folk tale very loosely inspired by his life "Dick Whittington and his Cat" - which reflects a popular reception of ideas of migration to London, the perils and the possibilities>
Interesting, Anton. I’ve not engaged for a while. Feasts of county-men residing far from home is far from unknown in the rest of world. I am of course thinking of Chinese native place associations. These can be found anywhere in the world where there are large numbers of Chinese even today, and were hugely important in the past, serving protective, welfare, commercial and community functions. In parts of Southeast Asia the local state would devolve governance of the resident foreign community to those associations and their headmen. There’s a big literature on this, but these forms of sojourner associations and their activities, so common in many parts of the world over the centuries, probably have not been given as much attention in the UK context as they would seemingly deserve.
I think it's interesting to compare with the Netherlands (just using figures from Wikipedia here, forgive me):
British population in 1500: 3.9m
Dutch population in 1500: 1m
British population in 1700: 8.6m
Dutch population in 1700: 1.9m
As another commenter has pointed out, Amsterdam saw even faster growth than London. Perhaps the only reason London capped out so much larger was because it had a greater rural population to draw from. Even in 1700, London represented less than 7% of England's population. Over 25% of the Netherlands would have had to live in Amsterdam for it to reach the same size.
Theoretically, all those English migrants to London could have moved to Amsterdam instead, but why deal with a language barrier and foreign customs when there's a burgeoning commercial center in your own country?