Most ancient Egyptians were entrenched in the poverty line while a small number of priests and kings had much wealth. Many typical Egyptians of the day began to work at a very young age, with an estimated two-thirds of family members working, according to Egyptian mathematician A. Y. Abul-Magd of Zagazig University. As noted by the number of homes with, varying sizes in the ruined city of Akhetaten suggest that wealth distribution was more unequal than most contemporary societies. Some of the work done by common people included cultivation, mining, manufacturing, fishing, and the construction of the pyramids, monuments, and homes, and other work. In Ancient Egypt, the upper class included the pharaohs and those around them, government officials, and some military men; as is the case elsewhere, the people in this social class were highly respected; some were also, feared. A large portion of the nation’s wealth was the property of the Pharaoh, because he or she was, considered a GOD, or GOD-like.
Abdul-Magd believes that the size and layout of a house is a good indicator of the owner's wealth in a society that did not use hard currency. The majority of Akhetaten's houses were single-storey, made of mud-brick, and were about 60 square meters in size, but one or two houses covered over half a dozen times the area. Akhetaten was founded by Pharaoh Akhenaton (Born Amenhotep IV), ruled from 1352 BC - 1336 BC).
In 1897, Italian Sociologist Vilfredo Pareto (July 15, 1848 - August 19, 1923) theorized that all contemporary cultures manifest the same kind of wealth distribution, indicated on a graph, 20 percent of the population had 80 percent of the wealth. The 'Pareto Distribution' is still, used today. The Pareto Distribution for Akhetaten indicates that there was no middle class, with a small number of people having access to this wealth. However, other notable opinions include the hard- working crafts-men as belonging to the middle class. Today, the city of Tell el-Amarna occupies the site of Akhetaten.
Women in Ancient Egypt were, treated as near-equals to men, having many of the rights of men. Women in the upper class were, allowed to go to the market on their own, own property, perform business transactions, sign contracts, were independent, had legal rights, and in a few circumstances, attained the level of a Pharaoh. Other women who were not as wealthy were, allowed to become singers, dancers, and musicians. Many lower class women were, employed as servants in peoples’ homes.
In Ancient Mesopotamia (Known as the cradle of civilization) included more than 1,000 deities. Women took pleasure and comfort in having nearly equal rights to men (They deserved equal rights to men), including but not limited to owning land, businesses, and property, could file for divorce, conduct trade deals, and sign contracts.
In Ancient Mesopotamia, poverty was a serious and prevalent problem. The legal tender or currency of this era was mainly food. If a person or family had no food or depleted their food stocks, the result was almost certainly poverty. Good, wholesome food was the primary means of successful commerce. Mesopotamians looked down upon the poor.
“How lowly is the poor man? A mill for him is merely the edge of the oven; His ripped garment will not be, mended; what he has lost will not, be sought for! The poor man by his debts is he brought low! What is, snatched out of his mouth must repay his debts. Whoever has walked with truth generates life.” (Posted by Max Kaplan, May 23, 2014; mkaplanjustice.blogspot.ca: Poverty in Ancient Mesopotamia)
Poverty had a big effect on Ancient Greek society. Greece was comprised of independent states, known as Polis, or city- state. The area was, ruled by an aristocracy that played a major role in politics. Much of the society consisted of free people or slaves (Aristocrats on one hand, and peasants and slaves on the other). Slaves were, charged with laborious work, as domestic servants and doing agricultural work. They could also be, employed in other areas, almost none were paid and they had no legal rights and could not own property. A slave had likely previously been a prisoner of war, or was, purchased by a slave trader. There were many slaves in Ancient Greece. The work of men and women was, segregated based on the deeply ingrained belief in the superiority of men over women. Female slaves worked as cooks and servers of food, carried water, shopped, family services, and sewing.
Nighttimes in Ancient Rome, was a very dangerous place. A large portion of the residents of Rome lived in very crowded high-rise dwellings. Wealthy residents of Rome lived in spacious homes and mansions. By the first Century BC, Rome had a million inhabitants including the wealthy and poor, slaves and former slaves, and foreigners. It was a true multicultural city, containing high-crime run-down socially and economically deprived neighbourhoods, and multi-occupancy tenements.
"Outside the splendid civic centre, Rome was a place of narrow alleyways, a labyrinth of lanes and passageways. There was no street lighting, nowhere to throw your excrement and no police force. After dark, ancient Rome must have been a threatening place. Most rich people, I am sure, did not go out – at least, not without their private security team of slaves or their ‘long retinue of attendants’ – and the only public protection you could hope for was the paramilitary force of the night watch, the vigils." (Submitted by Emma Mason, June 13, 2016; historyextra.com: The Dangerous Streets of Ancient Rome)
During the Medieval Period (5th Century CE to 15th Century CE) peasants lived very harsh and stressful lives, merely surviving was often-times an ordeal in of itself. Peasants are small farmers or farm labourers with low social rank, uneducated and of very limited financial means. Peasants worked very hard, paid exorbitant taxes, rent, and lived a life engulfed by filth and dangers. They were near the bottom rung of society only the beggars were lower. Peasants worked and lived on land that was, owned by their Lord.
Peasants had to take an oath of allegiance to their Lord and breaking or contravening that oath would result in severe or at times deadly punishments. To carry out and satisfy that oath required performing a plethora of manual labours including working on the fields, planting and caring for crops, harvesting produce and warehousing it in barns, and preparing wood for the winter for their families and their Lords.
During the Medieval Period people in power commonly abused the lesser fortunate ones. Peasants paid high taxes to their Landlords and the Church, commonly referred to as a tithe. Oftentimes peasants were unable to pay their tithe in currency. The alternative was to make the payments in the form of produce that was, grown on the land. This land was, usually owned by the Landlord therefore defaulting on payments could easily result in eviction. The Church enjoyed receiving the large revenues from taxes; enormous barns were, used to store the produce acquired from peasants.
Peasants lived in what was, commonly referred to as ‘crunk houses’, made of simple materials such as straw, dirt, and dung. Without glass or wooded materials to be, used as doors and windows, peasants had to make due, with curtains. This meant that their homes were frigid in the winter and incredibly hot in the summer. In general, there was little or no furniture in their homes, only a floor which may not be, clean and sanitary. Because there were no toilets or anything resembling a rudimentary restroom, everything had to be, excreted into a bucket, which had to be, emptied on a daily basis, into the nearest body of water, which was also the reservoir for drinking and cleaning water. This practice, lead to the spread of waterborne diseases. Nevertheless, only a small quantity of water could be carried back home on a daily basis. Because peasants were filthy poor and barely owned any property, it was a common practice to keep farm animals in the home; it was too dangerous to keep them outside due to theft and predation by other animals.
Below the peasants in social class were the beggars, paupers, and vagrants. Those amongst these groups deemed able to work but refusing to do so were, treated extremely harshly; a whipping or hanging could ensue. Labourers were required to have a testimonial from a justice of the peace on their person, before being, allowed to journey outside of their parish to search for work. People that were unable to work were required to have a begging license on their person every attempt was, made to force the individual to work. People who could work but refused to do so were, branded with the letter ‘V’, thereby tarnishing their image for life.
English authorities issued a series of acts aimed at curbing the rise in the numbers of beggars, vagrants, and paupers. The Vagabonds and Beggars Act of 1494, was an act of parliament passed during the reign of King Henry VII of England. "Vagabonds, idle and suspected persons shall be set in the stocks for three days and three nights and have none other sustenance but bread and water and then shall be put out of Town. Every beggar suitable to work shall resort to the Hundred where he last dwelled, is best known, or was born and there remain upon the pain aforesaid.” (www.kingsnorton.info/time/poor_law_workhouse_timeline.htm via Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1494: Wikipedia the Free Encyclopaedia)
The Vagabonds Act of 1530 was an act of parliament passed during the reign of King Henry VIII and is a part of the Tudor Poor Laws of England. Under this act, vagabonds were whipped rather than be humiliated in the stocks. The act also created alleviations for those deemed unable to work due to illness, age, or disability. This category of persons was eligible for licensure as beggars, granted by justices of the peace in the respective locality.
The Vagabonds Act of 1547 was a statute passed in England by King Edward VI. This act issued the potential punishment of enslavement for 2 years and parish collection work for the poor. Then enslaved vagabonds were, fed only bread and water or a bit of drink. In addition, they were, forced to work, through encouragement by beating, chaining, or other method/s deemed suitable by the respective master. However, in cases where no person wanted the enslaved vagabond, the person was, sent to the town of their birth to work as a slave for the townsfolk. Vagabond slaves were like other slaves they could be, purchased and sold on a whim. Male vagabond children were, subjected to classification as ‘apprentices’ to be in bondage until the age of 24; for girls it was 20 years of age.
Known in Ireland as 'The Great Hunger', but widely referred to elsewhere as 'The Irish Potato Famine' (1845 - 1852; Note that some scholars end the famine in 1849), was a period of horrific large-scale starvation, disease, poverty, eviction, and emigration. One million Irish people died, another million emigrated, and an unknown number were left destitute, homeless, and in a horrible state. In total, the population of Ireland was, reduced by up to 25 percent. The Irish people and peasants were overly dependent on the potato crop. Although there had been periods of crop failures in the past, this particular failure was catastrophic, caused by an infestation of Phytophora Infestans (Also known as Potato Blight), a microscopic fungus.
Potato blight caused the potato plant and tubers to rot, leaving an ugly mud-like mass that was inedible to any human or animal. One theory has it that this particular fungus originated in America and had been, inadvertently brought over by one or more ships. Over 2 million Irish people relied on potato as their sole source of food, and for many others it was an important part of a healthy diet. However, what made matters worse was that the typical Irish man, woman, and child, had to eat a very large quantity of potatoes every single day if it was their sole or primary source of nutrition. In short, many Irish people had nothing else to eat. Although potato blight also wreaked havoc on Europe during the 1840s, Ireland suffered to a greatly disproportionate level.
At the time of the famine Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (Acts of Union, January 1801). The Irish Catholics were, treated as subordinate colonial subjects, by no stretch of the imagination were the masses considered equal to the British colonizers or their respective government. Under the penal laws of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Catholics were not allowed to own, purchase, or lease land, vote, hold political office or any respectable position, to reside within 8 km (5 mi) of a corporate town, or to receive a formal education. Land and large estates in Ireland were 'owned' and controlled by the English and Anglo-Irish-Protestant Landlords. Many of these Landlords were absentee owners, living in England. In the late 1820s, Catholics were, allowed to sit in parliament.
The absentee Landlords could not have cared less about the state of the lands they owned; they were mainly interested in the rent due. Many Landlords hardly set foot on their Irish lands, some never seeing it. It was common for Landlords to use paid go-betweens as rent collectors. Leases were long and caused great hardship for the peasant workers-tenants. Many peasants were barely able to pay the rent, not having much money left over for food. The population of Ireland during this period was 8 million, up to 2.5 million of which had to endure recurrent food shortages. The Great Hunger however, created extreme desperation on a vast scale; unknown numbers of starving Irish tried to eat the visibly rotten potatoes; the result was dangerous food poisoning, many deaths occurred.
Shockingly, during the famine Ireland maintained its status as the biggest exporter of wheat and oats to England. In effect, the sweat and labour of Irish peasants, many of whom were in a dismal state, continued to feed the English. In addition, Ireland exported many livestock. The Irish peasants that were producing this food could not afford to buy and eat it. Anglo- English attitudes toward Irish Catholics were extremely hostile and racist to say the least; the Irish Catholics were, considered the lowest of the low.
A quote from Thomas Robert Malthus (February 13, 1766 - December 29, 1834), renowned English cleric, professor, and scholar goes as follows: “The land in Ireland is infinitely more peopled than in England; and to give full effect to the natural resources of the country, a great part of the population should be swept from the soil.” (www.enjoy-irish-culture.com: The Irish Potato Famine - Causes)
One of the Irish Government’s early responses to the famine was to set up a Poor Law system based on workhouses; the system was deficient. The only way for a person to receive aid was to enter a workhouse. Shockingly, entering a workhouse entailed the giving up of any portion of a holding of land larger than a quarter of an acre. The result was a rise in impoverishment. Furthermore, any aid given by a workhouse required laborious work in return. There were not enough workhouses, nor space therein to cater to the large number of desperate people. Severe overcrowding resulted in famine-related diseases and other ailments.
Bear in mind that Landlords had evicted hundreds of thousands of peasants. Some Landlords went so far as paying the way for peasants’ emigration to America, Canada, and other English-speaking countries; overall, the idea was to rid Ireland of its the Catholic-Irish folks. Some parish priests, empathic unto their co-religionists but overwhelmed by the volume of deaths were forced to abandon the use of coffins in order to feed the multitude of famished families. Many victims were not buried others were buried in the clothes they were wearing at the time of their deaths. It was a catastrophic situation.
On June 29, 1846 the resignation of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel (February 5, 1788 - July 2, 1850; Conservative government) was, announced. Peel’s resignation opened the way for Sir Charles Trevelyan (April 2, 1807 - June 19, 1886), a British civil servant and colonial administrator, to acquire complete control of Famine Policy under the Liberal government; a catastrophic event.
The liberals, headed by Lord John Russell (August 18, 1792 - May 28, 1878), were staunch supporters of the concept laissez- faire (In short, business practices with little or no government interference; a hands-off system).
Eighteen forty seven was the worst year of the famine. Daniel O'Connell (August 6, 1775 - May 15, 1847), known as ‘The Liberator’ was a prominent Irish political leader who strove for Irish emancipation and their right to sit in the Westminster Parliament made clear the potential horrors of the famine in an 1847 address to the House of Commons saying, “Ireland is in your hands, in your power. If you do not save her, she cannot save herself. I solemnly call upon you to recollect that I predict with the sincerest conviction that a quarter of her population will perish unless you come to her relief.” (Historyplace.com: The History Place: The Irish Potato Famine)
Trevelyan ordered the closure of the food depots in Ireland that were selling Peel’s Indian corn. Furthermore, he rejected another boatload of Indian corn headed for Ireland. Indian corn was, shipped directly from America to be, given to the Irish. This was Peel’s own solution to the famine. Overall, Indian corn was not a good substitute for potatoes. Trevelyan’s logic was that he did not want the Irish to become ‘habitually dependent’ on the British Government (But the people were starving!)
Trevelyan and his close supporters knew very well, what was happening. In one particular letter a Father Mathew sent Trevelyan a letter saying, "In many places the wretched people were seated on the fences of their decaying gardens, wringing their hands and wailing bitterly the destruction that had left them foodless." (ibid)
London's slums can, be traced back to the mid-18th Century, a time when London's population began to grow at an unparalleled rate. During the last decade of the 19th Century, London's population reached a staggering 4 million, propelling a high demand for cheap housing. Slums emerged and grew as a result, of rapid population growth and incredible industrialization. Soon, parts of London became notorious for, being, overcrowded, unsanitary, poor, and run-down. Most well to do Victorians were either oblivious to the horrid conditions of London's slums, or ignored the plight of the residents. Most members of the upper class believed that the slums and predicament of the lower classes living therein was, caused by laziness, sin, and criminality. However, in the 19th Century some non-slum dwellers wanted this urban tragedy alleviated. They believed that this urban problem was, caused by poverty, unemployment, social disqualification, and homelessness. During Victorian times, people died of starvation on the streets of London.
The most hideous of London's slums was located on the east side, commonly referred to at the time as 'Darkest London'. During the closing decades of the Victorian era, East London's residents consisted mainly of working classes amongst the native English population. Others included Irish immigrants (A good portion of which lived in severe poverty, immigrants from eastern and central Europe (Predominately poor Russian, Polish, and German Jews), many of which crammed into White chapel and the adjacent area of St. George's and Mile End. Although White chapel contained some gas lamp lit streets and many foggy dark alleyways; crime including murder, prostitution, violence; and poverty, and disease were rampant. During the 1880s, Jack the Ripper, the notorious gruesome serial killer terrorized the White chapel district.
Arthur Morrison (November 1, 1863 - December 4, 1945) was a renowned English writer and journalist who wrote realistic novels and stories about the lives of underprivileged people in London's east side. "Black and noisome, the road sticky with slime, and palsied houses, rotten from chimney to cellar, leaning together, apparently by the mere coherence of their ingrained corruption. Dark, silent, uneasy shadows passing and crossing – human vermin in this reeking sink like goblin exhalations from all that is noxious around. Women with sunken, black-rimmed eyes, whose pallid faces appear and vanish by the light of an occasional gas lamp, and look so like ill-covered skulls that we start at their stare." (Arthur Morrison, “White chapel,” The Palace Journal, April 24, 1889 via Dr. Andrzej Diniejko D. Litt., Contributing Editor Poland; victorianweb.org: Slums and Slumming in Late-Victorian London)
Many destitute families were forced to make their children work at an early age, others were sent away to live on the street; these children had to grow up really fast, holding their ground against enemies and trying to satisfy their inherent hunger, thirst, and shelter drive. In the mid-19th Century, there were many thousands of dirty, desperate, half-starved children living on the streets of London. These slums were, commonly known as rookeries.
Many boys worked as chimney sweeps (Cleaned out the soot of chimneys), worked laboriously and very long hours in the dangerous unpredictable coalmines, shined shoes, sold matches, or worked in factories. During the Victorian era, people who were able to find work had to live nearby; transportation costs money. Available housing was deficient and oftentimes too expensive. Some residents rented out their rooms for the day in order to earn extra money.
In an attempt to alleviate the horrible plight of so many impoverished children, 'ragged schools' were, opened to provide rudimentary education. Some people thought that giving these children an education would result in a more intelligent criminal. More so, that money given to the poor was, blown away on alcoholic drinks and gambling and would do nothing to solve the fundamental social problems. On the positive side, the impoverishment of the many in the Victorian era produced one of the most generous periods of philanthropy and almsgiving to the poor and needy.
“If you were elderly, or ill, or a child, then often there was no alternative to going into an institution. You were stuck, and it could be very grim. But some of the able-bodied learned to play the system very well, went into and came out of shelters repeatedly, and some learned a trade and managed to get themselves out of poverty. The experience of the Victorian homeless was far from uniform.” (By Maev Kennedy, January 2, 2015; theguardian.com: Homelessness in Victorian London: exhibition charts life on the streets)
The 'Four Penny Coffin' (Also called a 'Coffin House') was a Victorian term that described an early homeless shelter used for the residents of London, run by the Salvation Army from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries to comfort and help its poverty-stricken clients. 'Coffin Beds' were wooden boxes hardly big enough for a human body, placed in rows. Although this seems quite shocking, it was better than sleeping outdoors, having to deal with crime, the elements, sounds, and filth.
The Union Army's victory in the American Civil War (May 1861 - April 1865) was supposed to be the death knell of slavery and slave-like conditions. Initially, however, the victors did not have a game plan to deal with the humungous influx of newly freed slaves, nor for the massive reconstruction of the devastated south. What was to be the economic future of this category of people? The vast majority had limited skills beyond farming on their masters' lands. Now, they were free and for the most part, landless. The southern economy had relied quite heavily on free labour. The war had wreaked havoc on southern farmers who now had no work force.
Worse yet, soon thereafter, the north showed an indifferent attitude unto the newly freed slaves. The result was an increase in poverty in the south for the newly freed slaves and white landless southerners. The Freedmen's Bureau was, established near the end of the Civil War. The initial purpose of which was to help the newly freed slaves make the transformation from slaves to a free labour workforce. The Bureau's most enthusiastic goal was to place freed slaves on acquired Confederate land. In late 1864, thousands of freed slaves trailed Union General T. Sherman's Army through the Southeast.
Soon, many of these slaves and their families were, given 40 acres each of abandoned plantation land on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts; some mules were also, donated. Unfortunately, President Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875), the 17th President of the United States, issued an order returning all confiscated Confederate lands to their previous owners. The freed slaves occupying these lands were, told that they had to sign labour contracts with the landowners or get off the property. Most of the freed slaves opted for tenant farming or sharecropping rather than contract labour. Under tenant farming the non-owning residents who farm the land, pay rent with cash or a portion of the produce. Sharecropping was the lowest of the tenant farmers. They almost never owned any property, borrowing property and farming equipment from the landowners. Many bought their food and clothing on credit from nearby merchants or the landowner's store; interest rates were often high. In reality, many sharecroppers were continuously in debt, barely able to break even, working very hard, a near- slave-like condition.
Poverty and aiding the poor were very serious problems for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Initially, southern Confederates believed that hunger and starvation would not be a misfortune or a worry during the war. After all, they had much free labour (Black slaves) who, would work the fields and help yield much food, during which time man