Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the average European's
diets varied greatly due to natural causes. Most peasants lived in
unsanitary conditions, far away from conventional medical help, and would
live in a single room with a large family. Most farmers were illiterate
especially in Southern Europe and their farming technology was not updated.
Protestant Northern Europe had higher literacy rates because Protestantism
encouraged individual bible reading, while catholic Southern Europe was
highly illiterate because the Catholic Church did not encourage literacy in
the least bit. The spread of education led to new ideas and farming
techniques which developed from the cities and spread to rural areas of
Europe.
In different areas of Europe, the yield ratios of wheat, rye,
and barley would vary; the climate would be a big factor in determining the
yield ratio. According to Document 1, Zone I, England, and the Low
Countries would have the high yield ratios. In Zone II, France, Spain,
and Italy were not far behind England in yield ratios. In Zone III and IV,
Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and
Hungary the yield ratios were very low, and from 1800-1820, they did not
produce wheat, rye, or barley at all. Countries like England and the
Netherlands had predictable weather patterns and were able to grow an
abundance of crops. The farther East a country was, the lower its yield
would be due to poor and unpredictable weather. The average European
peasant's diet was poor and not sufficient to human needs. Most diets
included bread, cheese, and butter. Meat and vegetables were rare and
eaten possibly twice a year. Most peasants were always on the verge of
starvation and ate anything edible to survive. The average person's
requirements are about 2,500 calories to function normally. Few people
even met the standards; most peasants were malnourished, since they did not
meet all of the food group requirements needed for a healthy person.
In France, food harvests were affected by variances in glacial
movements, which caused changes in temperatures, thus affecting the harvest
period. According to Document 3, during the maximum glacier movement, the
temperature was at its lowest, yet had the shortest time of harvest along
with a raise in prices. Right after the glacial maximum, the summer
temperature would rise, thus lengthening the harvest period, lowering the
price of grapes and wheat. For example, by corresponding chart 1 and 3 of
document 3, in 1712, wheat prices went sky high due to lower average summer
temperatures causing fewer amounts of days to harvest. According to
Document 4, The salary of the typical agricultural worker would remain
fairly static. The big problem was that food prices kept rising, and soon
the worker did not make enough money to buy food. There was much uprising
in regards to the sky high food prices, resulting in the French Revolution.
In Southern France, according to Document 5, the Plague killed
more than half of the population in some areas. At this time, the prices of
wheat were quite low, as were the temperatures. This means that there were
fewer people because of the plague, and with supply and demand pressures
off, it caused less competition for food. According to Document 5,
epidemics in Southern France in some places killed up to sixty-four percent
of the population, leaving devastating effects. Document 6 states that
in Europe from 1740-1742, the average annual number of deaths was up to 117,
while births were only at 100. The average rate of births could not
neutralize the deaths and caused the population to decrease. Marriages
were even less frequent then births, which was also a factor in the
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