Why did Britain Have an Industrial Revolution Between 1750 and 1850?

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William Keith                                                                                                     27/11/02

Why did Britain Have an Industrial Revolution Between 1750 and 1850?

The industrial revolution happened in Britain around 1850 and not finishing for a century.  Britain was the first and all the other countries followed.  In some countries, the industrial revolution has not happened yet; in all others, though, it is, in a way, still going on, because of the fact that technological advances are still happening.  In Britain, the revolution saw changes in all aspects of industry.  Not just in that factories and mass production were introduced, but in economy, trade, population, labour etc.  There were even changes in agriculture relating to the other industrial changes of the time.  Efficiency was also enhanced because of the large number of business enterprises situated within a limited area.  This made people more competitive and, therefore, willing to push harder for better quality goods, in less time.

During the revolution, there was a great change in the population.  Not only in the total amount of people who lived in the country, but also in the amount of people living in the different areas.  For example, as farming progressed and became more efficient, there were more job openings in the cities and more availability for freedom from the countryside, so, people moved to the cities.  Before the industrial revolution, sixty percent, or more, of the population lived in the country whereas now, it is around eleven percent.  In addition to this, there was a massive population growth from 11 million to 40 million, more people meant more demand, and more demand meant more factories.  This provided more labour for the vast and ever growing number of Britain’s factories and warehouses.

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The revolution in agriculture also made a large contribution to the progress of the industrial revolution.  One of the ways, and, indeed, the main way, in which it did this was by inventing the closed field system.  Unlike the conventional farming methods using the open field system, this system was much more efficient.  This meant that less people were needed to produce the same amount of food that traditional methods would have done, in less time. That led to more people leaving their careers in farming and moving to cities in search of work in a factory.  Also, the industrial ...

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