Industrial Revolution
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
The Industrial Revolution is the name historians have given to the period in history when there was a large and rapid change in the way things were made.
It began in Great Britain in the middle of the 18th century, and spread to Europe and the Americas by the early 19th century. It meant that instead of most things being made by hand in small workshops, they were made more cheaply in large quantities by powered machines in factories.
New ideas and inventions were also taken up in mining, the working of metals, and in the transportation of goods. The most important new invention of the industrial revolution was the steam engine. The steam engine, invented by James Watt, was used to power the factories and pump out the deeper mines. It was also used in railway engines. The heat from burning coal became the main source of power.
Some historians see the industrial revolution as finishing about 1820, but they agree this was only the start of change in the way we make things, which continues right up to the present time.
Historians still disagree on why the Industrial Revolution happened when it did, and why it happened in England first. It built on a new spirit of studying things through science in the 17th century, a period called the Enlightenment by historians. England also was a politically stable country throughout the 1700s with no wars at home (although it had many abroad).
England was also lucky that it had many of the raw materials needed to make and power the new machines close by within its borders. It also had an overseas empire that would buy the goods it made and provide it with a cheap source of other raw materials such as cotton and sugar. At the time of the industrial revolution slavery was practiced in many British Empire lands, this supplied a source for some of the money which could be spent on building the new industries. Slavery was finally ended in 1834 as machines eventually replaced the slaves. The slaves now became salaried workers who were paid for their work. That meant that the living standards rose and people generally became richer and healthier. But that in turn led a strong growth of number of people in England, leading into difficult social problems.
Some of the things which happened during the industrial revolution were:
- Steam engine became the main source of power. It replaced horses and human slavery.
- Cheap iron and steel became abundant. Steel replaced wood as material for building things.
- Machine tools became commonplace. Things could now be mass-produced instead of making them one by one.
- Seed drill meant that less people were needed to work at countryside. Many people moved to towns and found new jobs in the factories.
- Railways were built all around England. They carried people and things faster around than ever.
- Steamships began to replace sailing ships. They could be larger than sailing ships and not dependent of wind and weather.
- Power loom made it easy to mass-produce clothes and fabrics.
