tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post1461746141834213728..comments2024-03-08T08:26:10.748+00:00Comments on Racial Reality: Potatoes Enabled the Industrial RevolutionRacial Realityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02507362910443691074noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-2794733999861220332016-07-15T01:50:57.298+01:002016-07-15T01:50:57.298+01:00Ireland, Scotland and England were a great place t...Ireland, Scotland and England were a great place to grow mold, until the potato arrived. It allowed the starving Celts to get fat, with little effort, and make many babies. Tragic that the Native American domestication of potatos, tomatos and corn lead to overpopulation in N.Europe and the eventual loss of the natives lands to the Europeans.davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16040895529710349508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-91663342860620083662010-12-23T04:27:57.374+00:002010-12-23T04:27:57.374+00:00There has been a huge amount of potato selection i...There has been a huge amount of potato selection in Europe to suit local conditions, since they were first introduced and continues to this day. The <a href="http://images.google.co.nz/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4DANZ_en-GBNZ271NZ285&q=maori+potatoes&biw=1676&bih=855" rel="nofollow">original<br />varieties</a> looked nothing like modern day potatoesFFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-46874274846869089792010-11-04T15:39:51.268+00:002010-11-04T15:39:51.268+00:00All I saw in your link that was revelent to the qu...All I saw in your link that was revelent to the question I asked was that the potato help increase the population exponentially. Do you have more to add as of how the potato contributed to the industial revolution/industrial society??Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14881826420193952185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-62085169786713584552010-11-04T04:33:26.476+00:002010-11-04T04:33:26.476+00:00overall info about potstoes:
http://www.cambridge...overall info about potstoes:<br /><br />http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/potatoes.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-43385106731001862562010-11-03T13:51:07.088+00:002010-11-03T13:51:07.088+00:00Im doing an essay and I really need to know what t...Im doing an essay and I really need to know what the potato's contributions were to industrial society. I got bits of information from the discussion, but I really need a solid answer on how the potato influenced industrial society in several ways. It would be great if I could get a detailed response. Also I'm reading the book: the Potato by lary zuckerman. If that helps. My email is: Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14881826420193952185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-84311782086221469862010-09-13T13:47:53.358+01:002010-09-13T13:47:53.358+01:00I'm no farmer, but it does seem that there are...I'm no farmer, but it does seem that there are issues with growing potatoes in dry climates that make it much more difficult:<br /><br /><i>"The very dry summer of 2006 had an adverse effect on many vegetable crops, especially potatoes, which need a constant level of moisture in the soil to grow well. A dry soil not only checks the growth of the plants, retarding tuber development, but Racial Realityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02507362910443691074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-69743275661562684452010-09-02T15:55:18.722+01:002010-09-02T15:55:18.722+01:00Israel, Spain and Italy are all listed in the top ...Israel, Spain and Italy are all listed in the top ten countries for exporting the humble potato. So I think potatoes grow exceedingly well in such climates.<br /><br />http://www.suite101.com/content/top-ten-potato-countries-a32763Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-46785858285091127382010-08-26T02:35:05.150+01:002010-08-26T02:35:05.150+01:00Racial Reality is right - it was huge deposits of ...Racial Reality is right - it was huge deposits of coal, not the potato, that gave Northern Europe the technological edge over Southern Europe. Northern Europe had/has a very large amount of coal, while Southern Europe has comparatively little (or at least it wasn't as easily accessed centuries ago when it began to be used during the rise of the Industrial Revolution).<br /><br />Oswald Pseudothyrumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-68190604149926057092010-08-13T08:31:23.989+01:002010-08-13T08:31:23.989+01:00Everything the guy said about potatoes inducing gr...Everything the guy said about potatoes inducing great change in Northern European life is true, but he confuses the first introduction of the crop into Europe with its widespread adoption, which didn't happen until about 1750.<br /><br />http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_1_66/ai_54668867/pg_7/?tag=content;col1<br /><br />Potatoes may have given Northern Europe the final push theyDereknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-66531417981876228422010-08-05T14:34:19.951+01:002010-08-05T14:34:19.951+01:00First of all, it's not "my" argument...First of all, it's not "my" argument, it's Michael Pollan's argument. Secondly, I don't know where you're getting your facts but there were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines#17th_century" rel="nofollow">famines in Britain</a> throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 1690s, there was a famine in Scotland that killed 15% of the population. TheRacial Realityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02507362910443691074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-13935124536670989652010-08-04T21:40:51.270+01:002010-08-04T21:40:51.270+01:00What mattered most was: not starving to death (i.e...<i>What mattered most was: not starving to death (i.e. ending famine)</i><br /><br />Famine is a short term phenomenon which, although deadly, when it ends there is plentiful food for the population to grow again. The last English famine was in the 1620s, so there was a long period of famine-less history before potatoes became part of the English diet - and it took time because the lower classes Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-44356254465631560012010-08-04T14:41:16.907+01:002010-08-04T14:41:16.907+01:00Neither Pollan nor I are saying that population si...Neither Pollan nor I are saying that population size mattered significantly. You're the one who keeps insisting on that. What mattered most was: not starving to death (i.e. ending famine), and not expending all energy farming (i.e. increasing urbanization). Those were the first steps, and they likely wouldn't have happened without the help of the potato.<br /><br />Note also that the Racial Realityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02507362910443691074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-7900796247975950892010-08-03T22:37:43.766+01:002010-08-03T22:37:43.766+01:00Don't agree. The idea that potatoes enabled th...Don't agree. The idea that potatoes enabled the industrial revolution is a simple idea that's simply wrong. (Yes they were important but let's not make exaggerated, unjustified claims).<br /><br />England's last major famine was the early 17th Century. Why did it take so long (150 years or so) for "food security" to translate into technological revolution? One of EnglandAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-52840675939882572652010-08-03T14:48:05.195+01:002010-08-03T14:48:05.195+01:00I'm sure many factors were involved, not the l...I'm sure many factors were involved, not the least of which was Britain's substantial coal deposits. But there's more to Pollan's thesis than just population size. The potato helped to end widespread famine and the need for a large rural population, both of which were certainly hindering technological change.Racial Realityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02507362910443691074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-11171290162741379362010-08-02T21:57:00.412+01:002010-08-02T21:57:00.412+01:00Why could the industrial revolution not have proce...Why could the industrial revolution not have proceeded without potatoes? I think you confuse two issues: British success as early adopter and technological change.<br /><br />What was distinctive about the industrial revolution was not the growth in population and British empire but the technological innovation. <br /><br />Without the potato you may have still got the technological innovation inAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-31978438900225333662010-07-28T14:25:48.548+01:002010-07-28T14:25:48.548+01:00I don't think potatoes grow as well in the hot...I don't think potatoes grow as well in the hot, dry climate of the Mediterranean. But the other reason the North excelled was that Britain, where the Industrial Revolution began, contains an abundance of coal. The North also didn't have to contend with centuries of invasion and conquest by Muslims.Racial Realityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02507362910443691074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7700059.post-1301635181055704452010-07-28T08:22:20.328+01:002010-07-28T08:22:20.328+01:00This only explains how North got rid of its disadv...This only explains how North got rid of its disadvantages relative to South, but doesn't explain how it surpassed it as potato grew very well in South too.Onur Dincerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05041378853428912894noreply@blogger.com