As a result of british landowners evicting peasants from their lands in the 16th and 17th centuries a. there was an increase in the number of jobless peasants, whom the british government aided with an early form of welfare. b. efforts were made to encourage those who had been evicted to settle in the new world, thereby easing the british population crisis. c. mass numbers of peasants converted from protestantism to catholicism, because the catholic church took better care of the poor. d. there was a sharp reduction in the number of sheep and other livestock.