The
Industrial Revolution
During the second half
of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century British
industry underwent great changes. This process is called Industrial Revolution.
Before the Industrial Revolution, goods were produced in limited qualities by
human hands in the houses of the workers, but after the Revolution goods were
produced in large quantities by machines in factories.
The following are
reasons why the Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain earlier than in
other European countries. i) the availability
of capital for starting necessary infrastructural facilities, ii) the absence
of war and the existences of peace in internal matters, iii) the availability
of cheap reap raw materials such as cotton and coal in England, iv) the
availability of labourers at a cheap rate to work in factories, v) the network
of England’s colonies which supplied raw materials cheaply to England.
John Kay invented the
flying shuttle in 1733. This mechanical device increased the speed at which the
weavers of cloth could work. In 1764 a carpenter named James Hargreaves made
the spinning-jenny, which speeded up the making of yarn. In 1769, Richard
Arkwright’s ‘spinning frame’ worked by water-power was an improvement of jenny.
In 1779 Samuel Crompton combined the merits of both Hargreaves’s and Arkwright’s
machines. The power – loom made by
Edmund Cartwright in 1785 helped to increase the speed of weaving.
The great development
in the iron and coal industry took place in places like South Wales, South
Yorkshire and Tyneside regions where coal and iron were found together. In 1705
Newcomen made a steam engine to pump water out of coal mines. In 1763, James
Watt perfected this steam engine.
The Revolution took
place in means of transport also to transport goods to cities and seaports.
Telford made many miles of good roads and many large towns were reached by
coaches. In 1815 Macadam taught the art of road draining and perfected the
surface of the road. By 1840 there were 22,000 miles of good turnpike roads in England
with nearly 8,000 tollgates.
Canalization of rivers
was undertaken on a large scale in the eighteenth century. Bridgewater and
Brindley constructed many canals. Canals were the principal means of transport
for coal, iron and finished products. George Stephenson invented the first
locomotive, and the first railway line between Stockton and Darlington was
opened in 1825. Since that time there has been remarkable progress in all matters
connected with ocean navigation.
The Industrial Revolution
had good as well as bad results. Many large cities sprang up in different parts
of England. Manchester, Lancashire and Sheffield were such new towns. England became
the workshop of the world. The people clustered together in these smoky towns
where lack of proper sanitation caused many kinds of diseases. Many Reform
Bills were passed later to correct the harm done by the Industrial Revolution.
No comments:
Post a Comment