slide 1 introduction to the industrial revolution an overview 1700 - 1900

Introduction to the Industrial Revolution

An Overview

1700 - 1900

Shift from the Agrarian World• In England – majority of people were

farmers in rural areas

• Agricultural Revolution – New farming methods invented

• Enclosure movement had large land owners buying and then fencing public land

Subsistence Living!

Shift from the Small Farm World

• Wealthy landowners started buying land. Farmers pushed off the land

• Jethro Tull – horse drawn seed drill - efficient

• More food produced = population increase

• In 1700 there were about 100 million people in Europe, by 1800 the population had grown to 190 million.

Enclosures

Slide 4

Jethro Tull: Science Guy or British rock band?

Slide 5

Textile Industry Takes Off

• Domestic system (cottage industry) had dominated the early 1700s; merchants dropped off raw materials at people’s homes, picked up finished products later

• Work completed by entire family

The Family Institution

• How many people are in your family?

• What is the average expectancy for females and males living today?

• Boys: Are you going to do what your father does when you grow up?

• Girls: Are you going to be housewives or have a career?

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• Living conditions were hard for most people– Life revolved around the success of

the crops.– Most people were malnourished and

susceptible to diseases. – Frequent diseases and epidemics

kept the population relatively stable.– Life expectancy was about 30-35

years.– Marriage and child bearing occurred

during the teenage period.

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• Series of inventions modernize textile manufacturing, including:

• 1733 - Flying Shuttle (John Kay) – Used to weave cloth

The Spinning Jenny


• 1760 – Spinning Jenny (James Hargreaves) – Allowed for multiple threads to be woven together

• 1769 – Water Frame (Richard Arkwright) – Used water to power the spinning frame

The Spinning Jenny


• 1785 – Water Loom (Edmund Cartwright) – First machine that could weave cloth

• 1793 – Cotton Gin (Eli Whitney) – Machine that separated cotton seeds from the cotton

Plans for the Cotton Gin

Young Girl Working in Textile FactoryAs industrialization spread, factories employed children as young as 5 or 6 to work 12 hour days.

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• These advancements resulted in the movement of work from the home to the factory

Plans for the Cotton Gin

Look Around Us, What Changed?

Slide 15

• The Industrial Revolution

• Definition– the shift from making

goods by hand to making them by machine

• The Industrial Revolution creates great wealth but also great social and economic inequality, prompting a backlash of political, social, and economic reforms.

Why Britain Industrializes First

• Land (raw material, natural resources)

• Labor (skilled and unskilled labor force, management)

• Capital (money for investments)

• Entrepreneurs (People with an vision and the ability to make it happen)

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Land• 1715-1850• Natural resources

large amounts of coal and iron

• a large river system for water power and many natural harbors for easy trade

• Colonies – raw materials

Labor• An increase in

population created a surplus of workers

• Enclosed farms pushed farmers off the land and into the cities

• Unskilled laborers were needed to run the machines

• Middle management positions (factory managers, accountants, equipment managers)

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Capital

• A strong, stable government allowed a strong, stable economy to develop which resulted in extra money to invest

• Banks gave loans to invest in new machinery and to expand operations

Entrepreneurs

• People with a vision who sees a need the public will respond to

• People with skills and knowledge to gather the needed raw material, recruit and organize workers, and arrange for capital and investments

Changes Brought by the Industrial Revolution

• Invention of the steam engine in 1763 by James Watt shifts labor from humans and animals to machines

• Inventions continue to make life, manufacturing, and farming easier and better

• Continuous reinvestment of profits fuel even greater growth

• Inventions in one area often led to inventions in others

• Transportation and communication systems are greatly enhanced

Changes Brought by the Industrial Revolution

• Cities begin to dominate the western world• Creates a new social order with the rise of an

influential middle class• Poor working conditions for lower classes

eventually lead to new social and political movements

• Need for markets and resources force Europeans to take over foreign lands (imperialism)

slide 1 introduction to the industrial revolution an overview 1700 - 1900

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