The Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution
1. What was the Industrial Revolution?
 The greatly increased output of machine-made goods that began in England in the middle 1700s
 machines began to do jobs that had been done by hand
2. Describe three of the agricultural revolution in Britain. How did the agricultural revolution affect the population on
England?
 Enclosure movement - Wealthy landowners bought up smaller farms and enclosed their lands with fences; this
allowed them to cultivate larger fields and they could experiment with better seeding and harvesting methods to
increase yield
 Crop rotation – improved on three-crop system of middle ages; farmer would grow one crop which depleted
nutrients one year, then the next year plant a crop that replaced nutrients, etc.
 Improved livestock breeding – allow only best animals to breed; increased average weight.
 All of these improvements caused the population to explode – more food, better living conditions; led to increase
in demand; also caused small farmers to leave farms and move to cities to work in factories set up to meet new
demand
3. What were three reasons the Industrial Revolution began in England?
 Large population (means lots of workers)
 Extensive natural resources: water power and coal to power machines, iron ore to construct machines, tools and
buildings, rivers for transportation, harbors for merchant ships
 Expanding economy – money to invest in new inventions, highly developed banking system which made bank
loans available to start businesses, and increased demand for goods due to prosperity
 Political stability – wars had not occurred on British soil, positive attitude from military successes, Parliament
passed laws to encourage business
4. What is meant by the factors of production and what ARE they?
 Resources needed to produce goods and services
 Land
 Labor
 Capital (wealth)
5. What inventions changed the way textiles were produced and how did it lead to the textile industry to move from
homes to factories?
 Flying shuttle – doubled the speed of a weaver
 Spinning jenny – spin 8 threads at a time
 Water frame – used water to drive spinning wheels
 Spinning mule – made thread stronger, finer, and more consistent
 All these sped up the process and made it more efficient - Bulky and expensive machine required large buildings
and water power
6. What were some improvements in transportation?
 Steam engines – more efficient and less fuel. Originally invented for coal mines
 Steam boats and in England, network of canals to move raw materials and finished products
 Improved roads - macadam
7. What are the four ways that railroads revolutionized life in Britain?
 Spurred industrial growth with a cheap way to move materials and finished products
 Created hundreds of thousands of new jobs for railroad workers and miners
 Boosted agriculture and fishing industries by making it possible to transport products to distant cities
 Encouraged country people to take jobs in distant cities