BACKGROUND

In the first half of the eighteen century, Britain was a mainly agricultural country. About 70 per cent of the people lived on the land. Goods such as clothes were made in houses under a system called domestic industry. From about 1750 onwards, Britain changed. Over the next 100 years Britain became the first country to go through an industrial revolution. This meant that goods were now made in factories, which used water or steam power. New towns and cities grew up, and by 1850 more than half of the people of Britain were living in cities.

The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. In the words of Nobel Prize winner Robert E. Lucas, "For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth ... Nothing remotely like this economic behavior is mentioned by the classical economists, even as a theoretical possibility."

¿WHAT CAUSED THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN?
 The causes were:

1. rise in population
2. coal and iron ore
3. trade
4. agricultural revolution
5. transport revolution 
6. inventions 

RISE IN POPULATION
          The population of Britain grew in the eighteenth century because of a fall in the death rate and a rise in the birth rate. Between 1701 and 1801, the population rose from 6.5 million to 10 million people. This rise in population led to a greater demand for food and clothes. More people were also available for work.

        On this image we can see the population increase in Britain between 1701 and 1861:

COAL AND IRON ORE

              Britain had plentiful supplies of coal and iron ore. The coal was burned to obtain coke, which was used to smelt iron ore. Coal was also used to power steam engines in factories, railway locomotives and ships. The iron, and later steel, replaced wood. Now, bigger and stronger machines could be made.

The industrial revolution made Britain a world power that wass fulled by coal.

BRITAIN'S TRADE

   By trade we mean the act or an instance of buying and selling goods and services either on the domestic markets or on the international markets.  
Raw materials were brought from Britain's colonies. They were made into goods, or products in Britain. Some of these, were sold in the colonies. The money that British made was used to build factories and other bussinesses.

       In this photo you can see the triangle of eighteenth-century trade:

On these images we can see people working before and after the industrial revolution, domestic industry(above), people working in their houses, and the factory system (right).

 

        THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

In parts of Britain the system of farming was the same as in the Midle Ages. This system was the three-field or, open-field. It had faults and could not produce the food needed for the growing population. So there were great changes in farming methods in the eighteenth and part of the nineteenth centuries.

ENCLOSURES

Many areas were enclosure. In this process the three open fields and the common were dividede into frams surrounded by fences and hedges. This acts were passed, and commissioners were appointed to dii¡vide the land into farms.

NEW METHODS

Enclosure made easier introduce new methods of farming and to use machinery.

One of the new methods of farming was the four- field rotation.

NORFOLK CROP ROTATION

 Charles Townshed developed the Norkfol crop rotation that provided turn rips to feed cattle. It helped the soil recober, and it ensured that o the fields were used every year. 

Efects of crop rotations and monoculture

SELECTIVE BREEDING 

Farmers had their own farms, the cattle did not mix with other farms. Robert Bakewell introduced new breedin techniques that improved sheep and cattle. Other farmesr imitated his methods.  

NEW MACHINERY

New machinery was invented tha improved farming. The most important were:

 Inventor: Cyrus McCormick.
 Invention: Reaper.
 Improvement: Faster, more efficient cuting of corn.

 Inventor: Andrew Meikle.
 Invention: Threshing machine.
 Improvement: Faster threshing.

Inventor: Jethro Tull.
Invention: Seed drill
Improvement: Seeds scattered evenly, easier to weed

                 THE EFFECTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

The changes meant that more food was produced for the growing population of the towns and cities. Less labour was needed on the farms because of the machinery. Labourers could go to work in the new factories and cities.