Final answer:
The acquisition of farmland in history often involved large landowners buying or leasing land and employing enslaved people, as in ancient Rome. The Han state and the Tuoba Wei in China distributed land to support small farmers but struggled to prevent the decline of smallholdings due to the dominance of powerful landowners and traders.
Step-by-step explanation:
Throughout history, the expansion of farmland has been crucial to sustaining the urban population and consolidating the power of the state. In ancient Rome, large landowners created profitable plantations by buying land from poorer farmers and leasing from the state. This land was often worked by enslaved people, who became more available after certain military conquests, for instance, the 150,000 enslaved after the defeat of Perseus of Macedon.
In contrast, the Han state in ancient China took measures to support small working families. The government provided relief and resources, promoting farming as a means of increasing grain, cloth, and labor available to the government. In a similar approach, the Tuoba Wei in Northern China used the "equal fields" system to distribute land according to household labor power, with taxation and military service obligations tied to these land parcels.
However, in both the Roman Empire and Han China, the struggle between small farmers and powerful landowners ultimately led to a decline in smallholdings. This was attributed to factors such as extortion, inability to compete with large slave-tilled estates, and the difficulties in regulating the trade and taxing the wealthy. Consequently, the oligarchic dominance alongside a disenfranchised peasantry became a common sight, with agriculture as the foremost industry where land equaled wealth.