ABSTRACT
The post-classical or medieval period stretches from 500 to 1450, almost a thousand years. The most important agrarian processes in this period, which this chapter will discuss, included:
the prolonged decline of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire; the rise and decline of the Western European manorial system; the Muslim transfer of Asian crops to the Western European region; China’s adoption of intensified farming to resist crop failures and famines.
The transfer of Asian crops introduces the first major global exchange of farm products, which had extremely important consequences. In Byzantium, Europe, and China, the dual subordination continued to shape agrarian life. In these regions, governments inherited from previous regimes the common problem of conflicted relations between small peasants and large landlords, which all of them attempted to resolve or control with limited success.
