improvement

thumb|A drawing of a man pointing to a graphing showing an improvement in sales numbers. Improvement is the process of a thing moving from one state to a state considered to be better, usually by a change or addition that improves. The concept of improvement is important to governments and businesses, as well as to individuals.

==History of the concept== The term "improvement" in general means "gradual, piecemeal, but cumulative betterment", which can refer to both individuals and societies as a whole. The term "improvement" historically referred to land improvement, the process of making wildland more suitable for human uses, particularly the cultivation of crops. Agricultural writers contrasted "improvement" with the traditional custom that governed farming practices at the time. The belief in agricultural "improvement" was the belief that the earth could be made more fruitful. More specifically, it was the belief that "the knowledge of nature would allow the best possible use of resources". It emerged in late medieval England and later shaped the colonies of the British Empire, through what Richard Drayton describes as "enlightened imperialism". The British believed "that they ultimately knew better than those on the ground".