The First Industrial Revolution it was generated by the Commercial Revolution that took place in Europe between the 15th and mid-18th centuries.
The expansion of international trade and the increase in wealth made it possible to finance technical progress and set up industries.
Industrial Revolution in England
Factory Workers
The First Industrial Revolution began in England around 1750, and soon reached France, Belgium and later Italy, Germany, Russia, Japan and the United States. By that time, commercial activities commanded the pace of production.
At english industrial revolution, the main manufacture was wool weaving. But it was in the production of cotton fabrics that the mechanization process began, that is, the transition from manufacturing to the manufacturing system.
The raw material came from the colonies (India and the United States). About 90% of English cotton fabrics were sold abroad, which played a decisive role in England's industrial surge.
Mechanization and Inventions
Mechanization extended from the textile sector to metallurgy, transport, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. Several inventions revolutionized production techniques and altered the economic power system.
The great source of wealth shifted from commercial to industrial activity. Whoever developed the capacity to produce goods would become the economic leader in the world.
And that's what happened to England, being the first country to industrialize using the machine in production:
- the spinning machine, which transforms cotton, silk and wool textile fibers into yarns, for the manufacture of fabrics. This invention revolutionized the production technique, turning England into the largest producer of yarns for fabrics. This invention replaced the spinning wheel, one of the simplest and oldest spinning instruments.
- the mechanical loom, invented in 1785 to replace the manual loom, considerably increased the production of fabrics, placing England at the top of the world at the time.
- the steam engine, whose use in the fabric industry, in coal plants, in the industrialization of iron, in vessels (ships to steam), on the railways (steam locomotive), among others, represented a revolution in passenger and loads.
The invention of machines, the use of heat energy from coal and its transformation into mechanical energy to make it work the machines, represented a great advance in the techniques used for the manufacture of goods and, consequently, in the increase of production.
England thus passed from manufacture to the machinery. It produced and sold its industrial products all over the world, thanks, among other factors, to the expansion of the colonial system.
Thus, in the 18th century, the country became the largest capitalized nation in the world, with London being the international financial capital.
This moment represented a real revolution in the way of producing goods in much shorter time compared to manufacturing.
The early development of mechanized textile industries in much of Europe and the United States depended on many of these British inventions. This revolution became known as the First Industrial Revolution.
Want to know more about the topic? Read too:
- Industrial Revolution
- Second Industrial Revolution
- Third Industrial Revolution
- Phases of the Industrial Revolution
- Causes of the Industrial Revolution
- Consequences of the Industrial Revolution
- Industrial Revolution Questions
