1. The Agricultural Revolution beginning in the 18th century changed agricultural
practices. Expansion of farmland, good weather, improved transportation, and
new crops such as the potato dramatically increased the food supply. More
people could be fed at lower prices with less labor. Now even ordinary British
families could use some of their income to buy manufactured goods.
2. With the increased food supply, the population grew. Peasants moved into towns
creating a labor supply for factories.
3. Great Britain had a ready supply of money, or capital, to invest in new machines
and factories. Entrepreneurs found new business opportunities and new ways
to make profits.
4. Natural resources were plentiful in Great Britain. The country’s rivers provided
water power for the new factories and a means for transporting raw materials
and finished products. Britain also had abundant supplies of coal and iron ore.
5. A supply of markets gave British manufacturers a ready outlet for their goods.
Britain had a vast colonial empire, and British ships could transport goods
anywhere in the world. A growing demand for cotton goods will increase
domestic markets as well.
18th
Cottage Industry
In the
Century, Great Britain had surged far ahead in the production of
Inexpensive cotton goods. The manufacture of cotton cloth was a two-step process.
First, spinners made cotton thread from raw cotton. Then, weavers wove the
cotton thread into cloth on looms. In the 18th C., individuals did these tasks in their
rural cottages. This production method was thus called a cottage industry.
New Inventions
As the demand for cloth grew, inventors came up with a string of remarkable devices
that revolutionized the British textile industry. For example, using John Kay’s flying
shuttle, weavers worked so fast that they soon outpaced spinners. James Hargreaves
solved that problem by producing the spinning jenny in 1764, which spun many
threads at the same time. A few years later, Richard Arkwright invented the water
frame, which used water power to speed up spinning still further.
The new machines doomed the cottage industries. They were too large and
expensive to be operated at home. Instead, manufacturers built long sheds to house
the machines. At first, they located the sheds near rapidly moving streams, which
provided water power to run the machines. Later, machines were powered by
steam engines.
The Factory System
Spinners and weavers came each day to work in these first factories – places that
brought together workers and machines to produce large quantities of goods. Early
observers were awed at the size and output of these establishments.
Early Transportation
As production increased, entrepreneurs needed faster and cheaper methods of
moving goods from place to place. Some capitalists invested in turnpikes, which
were privately built roads that charged a fee to travelers who used them. Others
had canals dug to link rivers or connect inland towns with coastal ports. Engineers
also built stronger bridges and upgraded harbors to help the expanding overseas
trade.
Steam Engines
The great revolution in transportation was the invention of the steam
locomotive. It was this invention that made possible the growth of railroads. In
the early 1800s, pioneers like George Stephenson developed steam-powered
locomotives to pull carriages along iron rails.
The Rocket Locomotive
The railroad did not have to follow the course of a river. This meant that tracks
could go places rivers did not, allowing factory owners and merchants to ship
goods over land.
World’s First Rail Line
The world’s first major rail line, from Liverpool to Manchester, opened in
England in 1830. In the following decades, railroad travel became faster and
railroad building boomed. By 1870, rail lines crisscrossed Britain, Europe, and
North America.