Coping with Crisis : the Resilience and Vulnerability of Pre-Industrial Settlements.

Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Abbreviations and Contractions -- Measurements -- 1 Defining Settlement 'Resilience' and 'Vulnerability' and Introducing the Historiography -- 2 The Theoretical Framework -- 3 Parasite or Stimulant? -- 4 Settlement Decline before the Black Death? -- 5 Village Communities and Commercialisation -- 6 A North Sea Coastal Area Under Pressure of Land Consolidation -- 7 Exploring Long-Term Inequality and Agro-Towns in the Kingdom of Naples, 1600-1900 -- 8 Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

All pre-industrial societies had to face certain challenges: earthquakes, plague, warfare, soil erosion and subsistence crises. However, while some settlements were stable over the long term, other settlements proved more vulnerable to crisis. This book has been stimulated by the hypotheses put forward by a recent 'disaster studies' literature, which suggests that vulnerability of habitation is less to do with the crises themselves, but on endogenous societal responses. By testing the explanatory framework on several societies between the Middle Ages and nineteenth-century Europe, it is argued that the most resilient habitations were those that displayed an equitable distribution of property and power.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.