§6.1; The industrial revolution
The industrial revolution was a radical change in which manual labor was replaced by machines. The
industrial revolution started the Modern age (1800 up to now). Before the industrial revolution, people
lived in an agriculture-urban society. Manual labor was used and craftsmen used their hands to make
products. At the industrial revolution the transportation also changed, because now their were steam
locomotives instead of horses. Many more things changed, like candle light to electric light, working
and living conditions, health & social situations.
The revolution started in Britain. Here the farmers used new techniques and investments in farming
led to an agriculture surplus. Therefore, there was much food and people moved to britain. This also
led to higher demands of products, resulting that the craftsmen and farmers couldn’t satisfy the high
demand anymore.
This gave entrepreneurs opportunities to make money. New inventions were made for textile
production. Two of those inventions were called The Spinning Jenny that worked by manpower and
The Waterframe that worked on waterpower. However, they both didn’t work, so a new invention was
made; steam power. These machines needed to coal and England had enough of this.
Steam power was not used for the first time, it was first used to pump water from a mine. However, it
became more popular when James Watt made an adapted version. Those steam machines became so
big that they needed to be placed in factories. These buildings first had to be placed close to places
with water and coal. The coal was used to heat up the water to produce steam. With the invention of
the steam locomotive, these fuels could be transported to all different areas causing that they could
build factories everywhere.
Industrialization rendered people in the agriculture sector less necessary, so many people needed to
start working in the city, resulting in that the cities grew gradually. This is called urbanization.
However, there was a shortage of housing and because the wages were low, they could only rent a
very small house with bad living conditions. Those houses were built close to each other which made
the streets slim and crowded. The houses didn’t have toilets or clean supply, so they threw all their
waste on the streets. These open sewers attracted rats and other vermin. This resulted into diseases
which could sometimes lead to death.
The wages that laborers were very low, so the mother and the children of the family also had to work.
The children couldn’t go to school to improve their knowledge or skills. The men and women
operated the machines, while the children needed to work as chimney sweeps or had to crawl into
narrow spaces in the mines.
To conclude, the revolution in England led to population growth. This growth triggered a high
demand for clothes, which inspired entrepreneurs to invest money in new inventions for spinning.
These inventions led to the industrial revolution in which machines had taken over manual labor. The
promise of work in a factory brought people to the city.
The industrial revolution was a radical change in which manual labor was replaced by machines. The
industrial revolution started the Modern age (1800 up to now). Before the industrial revolution, people
lived in an agriculture-urban society. Manual labor was used and craftsmen used their hands to make
products. At the industrial revolution the transportation also changed, because now their were steam
locomotives instead of horses. Many more things changed, like candle light to electric light, working
and living conditions, health & social situations.
The revolution started in Britain. Here the farmers used new techniques and investments in farming
led to an agriculture surplus. Therefore, there was much food and people moved to britain. This also
led to higher demands of products, resulting that the craftsmen and farmers couldn’t satisfy the high
demand anymore.
This gave entrepreneurs opportunities to make money. New inventions were made for textile
production. Two of those inventions were called The Spinning Jenny that worked by manpower and
The Waterframe that worked on waterpower. However, they both didn’t work, so a new invention was
made; steam power. These machines needed to coal and England had enough of this.
Steam power was not used for the first time, it was first used to pump water from a mine. However, it
became more popular when James Watt made an adapted version. Those steam machines became so
big that they needed to be placed in factories. These buildings first had to be placed close to places
with water and coal. The coal was used to heat up the water to produce steam. With the invention of
the steam locomotive, these fuels could be transported to all different areas causing that they could
build factories everywhere.
Industrialization rendered people in the agriculture sector less necessary, so many people needed to
start working in the city, resulting in that the cities grew gradually. This is called urbanization.
However, there was a shortage of housing and because the wages were low, they could only rent a
very small house with bad living conditions. Those houses were built close to each other which made
the streets slim and crowded. The houses didn’t have toilets or clean supply, so they threw all their
waste on the streets. These open sewers attracted rats and other vermin. This resulted into diseases
which could sometimes lead to death.
The wages that laborers were very low, so the mother and the children of the family also had to work.
The children couldn’t go to school to improve their knowledge or skills. The men and women
operated the machines, while the children needed to work as chimney sweeps or had to crawl into
narrow spaces in the mines.
To conclude, the revolution in England led to population growth. This growth triggered a high
demand for clothes, which inspired entrepreneurs to invest money in new inventions for spinning.
These inventions led to the industrial revolution in which machines had taken over manual labor. The
promise of work in a factory brought people to the city.
