Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution

The most fundamental transformation of human life in the history of the world.

Britain was the epicenter of this transformation

It began around 1770.

Capitalism or Market Economy

• People are free to own and operate their own business for profit.

• Profit is revenue earned, minus all business expenses, such as the cost of raw materials and wages paid to workers

The Really Huge Question:

• Why did the the Industrial Revolution happen where it did and when it did.

No country has ever surpassed Britain in world power and influence, and no country is likely to in the forseeable future.

Britain became the agency of global economic interchange

• Between:• The advanced and the underdeveloped• The industrial and the suppliers of raw

materials• The metropolitan and the colonial

International transfers of capital and commodities passed through British hands, in British ships, and were calculated in terms of the pound sterling.

1750

England was green, tidy, and prosperous, like a well-kept garden

• London had a population of about 175,000 and was twice the size of Paris.

By 1750 there were already no “peasants”

A Nation of Shopkeepers

1750

Ships and overseas trade were the life blood of England.

The British navy was its most powerful weapon.

Unlike the French, the British government was willing to wage war and colonize specifically for the benefit of British manufacturers.

The French philosopher Voltaire said that British business was both businesslike and warlike.

Now, let’s look at the role of cotton

The Industrial Revolution was Cotton!!!

• Through cotton, there arose a new form of industrial capitalism: The Factory

Manchester was the City

“Hundreds of 5-6 storied factories, each with a towering chimney by its side, which exhales black coal vapor.”

The Slave Trade and the over-abundance of raw material: Cotton

• 1500’s: less than .5 million African slaves taken to the New World

• 1600’s: 1.5 million African slaves taken

• 1700’s: 7 million African slaves taken

Get This!!!!

The first local cotton manufacturers established themselves near slave trading ports, such as Liverpool.There was an excess of cotton coming in to these ports that needed to be used.

Ultimately, the most modern center of production, Lancashire, preserved and extended the most primitive

form of exploitation: slavery

And then there is the market side:

Between 1750 and 1770 there were periodic disruptions in the Indian supply of cotton textiles, primarily destined for Africa. British manufacturers had to step in to supply the cotton textiles for the British traders.

Remember, it was the British who controlled virtually all trade, anywhere!!

• This vast expansion of British-made cotton exports after 1750 gave the industry its impetus.

• Between 1750 and 1770 British cotton exports multiplied 10 times over.

• By the end of the 19th century, 90% of British cotton was exported.

• Most of the exports went to India, after the British succeeded in shutting down Indian cotton textile production.

• East Asia also received a lot of the British cotton exports.

Spinning Jenny 1764

Water Frame 1768

Spinning Mule 1779

• The cotton factories of the Industrial Revolution were essentially spinning mills.

• The innovation stopped there for the next 30-40 years. Rail and steel and all the rest came later.

Terrible working conditions

Most employees in the cotton industry were women and children.Very long hours.Low wages.Danger.The standard of living went down for the working classes.

It was possible to maintain very low wages for the British working population and still remain very profitable due to the huge export market.

Conclusion

• The Industrial Revolution was deeply intertwined with the fates of Africa and Asia.