Why was Britain the First Industrial Nation?

Authors Avatar

Laura Curnock

09/05/2007

Why was Britain the First Industrial Nation?

From 1780 for just over a century Britain experienced rapid growth and industrialisation, which is popularly known as the Industrial Revolution.  This rapid economic growth was due to a number of main factors including; the geographical diversity of Britain, population growth, inventions, transport improvements, and the Government.   All of these factors influenced in E.J. Hobsbawn’s opinion ‘the most fundamental transformation of human life in the history of the world recorded in written documents’.  These factors encourage or induce change in Britain, and gave it the incentive to become the first industrial nation by many different means.

Britain’s geographical diversity gave it a natural advantage over other countries, and a great benefit to its industrialisation.  Coal, iron, and wood was found in large amounts in Britain, this gave the island a raw material which would prove to be valuable in overseas trade.  As an island Britain was surrounded by sea, this was good for defensive purposes, and a great advantage.  As Britain had no mainland territory to defend, it could concentrate on defending its country.  Navigable Rivers were found in Britain, which proved to be very useful in the transportation of goods to be sold.  The good global position of Britain made it easy to trade with other countries in its empire.  The British Empire grew rapidly in the 18th century, thus Britain’s well-established overseas trade market grew as well.  The value of exports of Britain had risen from £5,000,000 in the 1700s, to £10,000,000 in the 1780s.  In 1830 over 50% of these exports was cotton, which had originally been imported from the Americas, spun in Britain, then re-exported to other colonies or foreign countries.  By 1850 England dominated world trade in manufacture and proudly proclaimed itself to be the ‘Workshop of the World’, a position that the country held until the end of the 19th century.

The population growth of Britain is a factor, which enthused the already growing wealth of Britain.  During the period of 1780 to 1850 the population of England and Wales increased, from 7,500,000 million to 18,000,000, hence causing a greater demand in goods such as food and housing.  This population increase was mainly in the middle and working class people, probably due to the rising medical knowledge, and the fact that more hospitals were set up, consequently decreasing the death rate.  Many historians argue that when the population began to expand, after 1750 it provided the critical ingredient necessary to trigger off industrialisation.

Join now!

        The population growth in England and Wales had several positive effects for Britain’s move into industrialisation.  The increased population provided a large cheap labour force, which supplied the demand of factory workers.  The more people in the country caused a stimulus of investment in industry and agriculture.  As the demand for food and goods increased, entrepreneurs saw their chance to increase their income and businesses, and this also allowed social mobility for keen business stakeholders.

Population growth inspired Britain’s speculation in industry and agriculture, as there were growing demands for both.  For the duration of the 18th century experimental work ...

This is a preview of the whole essay