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... Why were people poor in the 1500's? In the 1500s the majority of the population was poor; they struggled to feed their family. One of the most serious problems that the government faced was how to deal with the poor. In the 1500s the population had grown very rapidly and so this had increased the demand for food. This meant that food prices became higher, but because there was plenty of people available to work their wages remained very low. The problem was made worse because many land owners had changed their usage of land from crops to sheep. In the 1500s there was about 8 million sheep to only 2.7 million people. This meant that less land was being used for crops at a time when the population was increasing.

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15y ago

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