Grade 8 History Notes
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN BRITAIN
Economy Before the Industrial Revolution
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Farming was the primary livelihood in England, with at least 75% of the population making their
living off the land
The cottage (home) industry was developed to take advantage of the farmers' free time and use
it to produce quality textiles for a reasonable price
Manufacturing was often done in people’s homes and people used hand tools or basic
machines.
There was a limited power supply , so manufacturing processes did not happen in large
workshops
By 1914 the European economy was dominated by large factories , employing thousands of
workers
Slave Trade
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Sir John Hawkings was the first Englishman to trade Africans.
The British slave trade became a major business in the 17th century, when King James 1 set up
the first monopoly company to trade with Africa 1618.
The demand for slaves to work the tobacco , rice ,sugar and other crops on plantations grew
when Britain obtained colonies.
The slave trade employed thousands of people in order to sustain a large support of shipping
services, ports and finance companies
The slave trade provided the British industries with raw materials which were turned into
manufactured goods and then sold for large profits in Europe and in the colonies.
Plantation-grown goods such as rum , tobacco ,coffee ,sugar ,molasses and cotton were bought
from the profits of selling African slaves to the plantation owners and sold for a profit in Britain
and Europe
Plantation owners profited from the use of free slave labour .
Wealth from the Slave Trade
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Merchants who sold slaves became the richest people in the 18th century Britain
British profits were made from exporting manufactured goods to Africa and importing slave
products such as sugar
British capitalism was a cause of slave plantation development
Slavery played an important role in the development of the modern world economy and
provided the labour power necessary to settle and develop the New World
Slaves were used for labour to produce the products like sugar , tobacco , coffee , cocoa and
cotton
British cotton mills depended on cheap self-produced cotton from New World
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British consumers also benefited from other cheap slave -produced goods like sugar
The profits gained from the slave trade gave Britain economy an extra source of capital (money)
Both the Americas and Africa , whose economies depended on slavery , became useful
additional export markets for British manufacturers
Many British individuals, business , and ports prospered on the basis of the slave trade
Cottage Industry
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The term referred to people who worked from home like sewing , law-making, wall hangings,
electronics etc
Spinners , weavers and others remained living in small villages and worked according to their
own preferences as independent contractors who owned their equipment
Women and children earned cash and it converted what had been the family’s leisure time especially the slow phases of the agricultural cycle -into casj as well
Before industrialisation, European manufacturers had a large consumer market available to
them which provided small luxury goods