The Mechanization Of The Industrial Revolution In Britain

886 Words2 Pages

The industrial revolution started in the early seventeenth century in Britain. Britain had an established central bank and credit market, along with a modernized legal system, which allowed the English people means to greatly develop new scientific techniques in agriculture, transportation and labor methods. In the late 1700s new inventions allowed the use of machinery to speed up the manufacturing process and replace manual labor, thus the “factory system” is born. With these new methods of manufacturing and the increase in production, Britain needed new improved ways of transportation to expand trade. These scientific breakthroughs laid behind the West’s leap in productivity. There are a number of factors led Britain to be the starting point of the industrial revolution. During this time of economic change, there were many inventions that helped Britain move from agricultural to mostly industrial. Due to the …show more content…

Most families could not afford to live with just the parents working, so children over the age of eight worked alongside their parents in factories for over 12 hours a day. The working conditions that the young children were forced to endure, initiated the start for reform laws. In 1833, the factory act was passed which limited the amount of hours that a child could work based on age (Mack, 2005). Conclusion The industrial revolution that started in Britain in the early 18th century brought us many scientific breakthroughs. The mechanization of the cotton textile industry reducing the need for manual labor, new iron making techniques, the introduction of steam powered machinery combined with improved transportation methods led to the expansion of trade in Europe. This was the result of technological progress in many different fields coming together and not just one invention. These scientific breakthroughs laid behind the West’s leap in

Open Document