Brandenburg in the 30 Years War the Economy 1701-1740
Domestic Policy, 1648-1701 Intellectual Life, 1648-1701






Brandenburg and Prussia during Absolutism, 1648-1701 : the Economy



With the dynasty being Calvinist (since 1613) and the population being Lutheran (since 1539), the Estates wanted to see Lutheranism as the sole state religion, reluctantly accepting an exception for the dynasty. When establishing princely absolutism, the Great Elector pursued a policy of not interfering in religious matters; the dynasty steered, rather coincidentially, toward a policy of religious toleration. When the Great Elector willingly accepted French Huguenots (thus refugees who shared his Calvinist faith), and, less cordially, Jews; the reasoning was primarily economic. These immigrants brought new skills into the country, for instance Tobacco cultivation, clockmaking etc.; until 1745, 40 new guilds were registered in Berlin.
The Brandenburg version of Mercantilism emphasized the population of a country as the source of its wealth; Peuplierung, an active policy aiming at expanding the population, by the means of attracting immigrants, by land reclamation (drainage of swamps), the foundation of villages and even cities, supported by the introduction of new industries, was pursued. The Huguenot immigrants were offered 10 years free of taxation, the right to form parishes of their own, to judge matters arising between themselves on their own, they were given land to settle on, and they were granted the right to enter the trades they wanted (thus, privileges of existing guilds etc. were violated).

The Brandenburg-Prussian lands may be divided in two different economic zones. The lands to the east of the Elbe River (Brandenburg, Further Pomerania, Duchy in Prussia) were predominantly agricultural, comparatively poor soil, the bulk of the land owned by the nobility (Junkers) which controlled the jurisdiction; the peasantry reduced to serfdom. Productivity was comparatively low; the peasants, who were compelled to work for the noble landowner up to 5 days per week, were obstinate. The cities were denied the autonomy economically flourishing cities outside of Brandenburg-Prussia had enjoyed, and with the peasants in the surrounding countryside not having much money to spend, were stagnating.
The territories to the west of the Elbe River provided a different picture. The various territories had come under Zollern rule comparatively late; the nobility was much less dominant. Mark had some coal mining and a watermill-powered metal industry; Ravensberg textile industry. The territories were more urban (in a 17th century way) in character; the economy was more diverse and more vibrant.
The immigrants came from regions located to the west of the Elbe, from lands where the economy was diverse. When settled in Brandenburg or Prussia, they brought skills, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an expectation of personal freedom.
Before the arrival of the Huguenots, Berlin had a population of 7,000; after, 11,000. The event can be compared with the influx of the Antwerpen refugees in Amsterdam a century earlier, a revitalization of the city.

In 1650, Prince-Elector Friedrich Wilhelm gave the Domain of Bötzow as a present to his wife, Louise Henriette, daughter of Frederik Henrik of Oranje-Nassau; at Bötzow, which was rechristened Oranienburg, she established an agricultural garden where experiments with new crops etc. were undertaken. In 1677 the Duke employed alchimist Johann Kunckel; his lab failed to turn out gold and silver, but from 1685 onward produced crystal glassware. In 1685, the Berlin Bourse was established.
The opening of the Spree-Oder Canal (27 km) in 1669 connected the Elbe and Oder river systems and, connecting Hamburg with Breslau, turned Berlin into an important entrepot. In 1693 a police ordinnance standardized measurements and weights.

The establishment of the Brandenburg-African Compagny, of colonial outposts on the Gold Coast (Gross-Friedrichsburg etc.) was an attempt to gain a share for Brandenburg-Prussia in the colonial trade. The Compagny was mainly owned and run by Dutchmen; the port city of Pillau (in the Duchy of Prussia) ill-suited to function as a base. In wartime the colonial holdings could not be defended, shipping not protected, due to the lack of a navy. The ultimate failure of the project, due to political/military reasons rather than to economic ones, caused the Zollern desire to acquire a port on the North Sea (Emden, East Frisia, in 1744).



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EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article Peuplierung, from Preussenlexikon, in German
History, from Hugenotten in der Uckermark
Geschichte von Oranienburg, from Oranienburg Inside
DOCUMENTS Letter from Hoofdman Friedson, officer of the Brandenburg Frigate Dorothea, lying off Whydah, 1688, from virginia.edu
REFERENCE Hans-Joachim Schoeps, Preussen, Geschichte eines Staates, Berlin : Propyläen 1966, in German [G]
Selma Stern, The Court Jew, A Contribution to the History of Absolutism in Europe, NY (1950) : Transaction Books 1985, especially pp.47-57 (on Elias Gumperts, Israel Aron, Jost Liebmann, Moses Benjamin Wulff), pp.139-144 (on Moses Jacobson de Jonge, who settled in Memel)
Werner Gahrig, Unterwegs zu den Hugenotten in Berlin (On our way to the Huguenots in Berlin), Berlin : Edition Ost, 2000; in German [G]
Ingo Materna et al., Geschichte in Daten : Berlin (History in Dates : Berlin); (1997) Wiesbaden : Fourier 2003; in German [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on April 30th 2004, last revised on July 11th 2005

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