Artisans in Sixteenth

Artisans in Sixteenth-Century EuropeFor centuries European artisans had operated in small, autonomous handcraftbusinesses, but by the sixteenth century an evolving economicsystem—moving toward modern capitalism, with its free-market pricing, neworganization of production, investments, and so on—had started to erode theirstable and relatively prosperous position. What forces contributed to thedecline of the artisan?In a few industries there appeared technological innovations that cost more toinstall and operate than artisans—even associations of artisans—could afford.For example, in iron production, such specialized equipment as blast furnaces,tilt hammers, wire-drawing machines, and stamping, rolling, and slitting millsbecame more familiar components of the industry. Thus the need for fixedcapital (equipment and buildings used in production) soared. Besides theseitems, expensive in their own right, facilities for water, storage, and deliverieswere needed. In addition, pig (raw) iron turned out by blast furnaces could notbe forged until refined further in a new intermediate stage. In latesixteenth-century Antwerp, where a skilled worker earned 125 to 250 guildersa year, a large blast furnace alone cost 3,000 guilders, and other industrialequipment was equally or more expensive.The word “Besides” in the passage is closest in meaning toA.In addition toB.More important thanC.Different fromD.Together withAccording to paragraph 2, how did technological advances contribute to theeconomic decline of artisans?A.Artisans had no place to store or use the new machines.B.Goods produced by the new technology were cheaper than thoseproduced by artisans.C.The fixed costs of remaining in business became very high.D.Artisans did not know how to use the new machinesRaw materials, not equipment, constituted artisans’ major expense in mosttraders, however. [ ▇ ]Whereas in 1583 an Antwerp silk weaver paid 12guilders for a loom (and made small payments over many years to pay off thedebt for purchasing the loom), every six weeks he or she had to lay out 24guilders for the 2 pounds of raw silk required to make a piece of cloth. [▇]Thusaccess to cheap and plentiful primary materials was a constant preoccupationfor independent producers. [ ▇ ]Using local materials might allow even thepoorest among them to avoid reliance on merchant suppliers. [▇]The loss ofnearby sources could therefore be devastating. As silk cultivation wanedaround the Spanish cities of Cordoba and Toledo, weavers in these cities wereforced to become employees of merchants who put out raw silk from Valenciaand Murcia provinces. In the Dutch Republic, merchants who importedunprocessed salt from France, Portugal, and Spain gained control of thesalt-refining industry once exploitation of local salt marshes was halted for fearthat dikes (which held back the sea from the low-lying Dutch land) would beun...