The Industrial Revolution of 1760 to 1820-40s

669 Words2 Pages

As I continue this fascinating journey through time, where I have witnessed, wars, conquest, plague, a whole array of amazing events, and now, as a result of the Enlightenment, humanity was in need to develop, to create a system that will facilitate in a global scale to obtain all type of commodities. With the conquest and colonization of the Americas and the European expansion, it created a model that extended to Africa and beyond. It created new opportunities to improve the diet and expand the markets which shape every day life in Europe and this was the backdrop to a phenomena which later will be called INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION from 1760 to 1820-40. Before this event, many goods were exclusively of certain regions, because of several factors. Hand production was slow, made it difficult to obtain industrial quantities for export , and for this reason prices were very high, making almost impossible for the common folk to afford it, furthermore, did not exist the adequate infrastructure to move high volumes of goods. But all these was about to change, with important technological developments towards 1760 in manufacturing, mining, agriculture and transportation. This included, road and canals construction, since this will be crucial for the success of what was to come. From spinning and weaving that was done in households for domestic consumption, went to the Spinning Frame developed by Richard Arkwright. With this, production in Britain of cotton textile, between 1770 and 1790, in 20 years alone the output increased tenfold. While the price of cotton textiles decreased by 90%, the output had grown to cover the demand at affordable prices. Now, cotton will be gotten from Brazil, Egypt, southern United Sates and all this meant a... ... middle of paper ... ...th their steam locomotive were a great asset in this new era, moving big amounts of coal and goods in record time. Europe was not longer in a deficit with Asia, because of their competitive prices and their big demand of them. Therefore, commerce flourished in Europe and Neo Europe, financial transactions, from Amsterdam, to China, started to be a common affair. The preciosities of yesterdays, now, were everyday commodities and not longer privileged goods only for the few. Consumers benefited from falling prices for clothing and households articles as cast iron utensils. The industrial revolution marks a turning point in history, in every day aspect of life, in particularly in average income. In the words of Robert E. Lukas Jr. "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth" .

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